She will be Loved
by CherryArrow
Summary: AU For clumsy, awkward Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke was obsession at first sight. He was smart, athletic and handsome. She was nothing to him, until fate decides to land them in an embarrassing situation. That's where our story begins! SasuSaku
1. Let the chaos begin!

**Authoress's Notes: **Welcome to my new fic! Based onto a Manga called Mischievous Kiss. I know, Earthborne had a fic called Mischievous Kiss, and then she deleted it, because she had writer's block. She told me I could use the plot. Thankies. : 3

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto. In my dreams!

**Summary: **AU- For clumsy, awkward Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke was obsession at first sight. He was smart, athletic and handsome. She was nothing to him, until fate decides to land them in an embarrassing situation. That's where our story and Uchiha's headaches begins

**Pairings: **SasuSaku (duh) With minor pairings, NejiTen, NaruHina (later on) InoShika

Co-Writer Earthborne

T.T Mou, decided to co-write a SasuSaku although I don't really support it. Don't ask me why.

**She will be Loved**

Chapter one:Let the chaos begin!

lxl

"That was the fifty-fourth love letter I've written to him." Sakura told her friend, a proud grin spreading across her cheeks, sipping her drink. Ino choked. "_Fifty-fourth_! I thought it's thirty-sixth!" Sakura shrugged. "Forgot to tell you guys." She brushed the dust off her skirt. Ino shook her head, an unbelievable laugh escaped from her lips. "So, what did he say?"

"I saw him tearing the paper up."

Her friends hollered with laughter. Sakura looked hurt. "It's not my fault!" Tenten patted her shoulder, rubbing her tears of laughter away. Sakura glared at her. "You should honestly give up. He's not your type."

"How do you know?" Sakura shot back. Tenten didn't get the chance to reply, a tray slid between Sakura and Hinata. A blonde boy grinned at her. "Sakura-chan!" She managed a grin. "Hi!" And winked at Hinata, who blushed.

He squeezed into the space between Sakura and Hinata. Sakura uncomfortably shifted aside. She glanced at Hinata. She seemed to be frozen. She kicked her under the table. Hinata jerked and looked at Sakura in surprise. _Move over_, Sakura mouthed, pointing her finger at the blonde. Hinata blushed prettily and managed a nod.

"Hey! Hinata, you're red…" Naruto said; his mouth stuffed with food. Sakura thought Hinata would faint, but she managed a small smile, which was a big surprise for all of them, except for Naruto of course. Even though he was Sakura's childhood second best friend, the blonde boy was still sadly oblivious to girls' feelings, especially that of Hinata's.

A shrill squeal was heard afar. Ino buried her head into her hand. Sakura closed her eyes in irritation. Those fan-girlish screams were killing her. _The_ Uchiha Sasuke walked into the lunchroom, hands into his pockets, looking so very annoyed.

"Sasuke-kun! Please sit with us!" Screech.

"I'll buy you lunch! Sit with us!" Giggle.

They were used to it. Every single day, every year it was like that. Since he entered High School, he had been very popular. Girls flocked up to him like the proverbial bees to honey. They formed clubs, shrines, and hell, even a small voodoo community, all worshipping Sasuke.

Sakura, however, was above that. She didn't want to be seen as a part that of a herd, she wanted to be an individual, so Sasuke-kun would notice her. She preferred to win him over with her intellect, not how high or loud her voice can go.

Rolling her eyes, she sipped her milk with dignity as the screaming mob ran past, but sadly for her, she didn't notice a girl running too closely to her chair, bumping her. Startled, Sakura jumped, which tipped her tray over, spraying the milk over her face and lap. The girl seemed to not realize what happened to her. Or she didn't care.

Everyone stared. They stopped what they were doing and stared at her. Sakura stood up, feeling her cheeks warming. Wiping the milk off her face with her right hand, she grabbed her bag and ran off to the bathroom.

_Some moments later…_

Sakura ended up soaking wet. She had to go the bathroom to wash the milk off her pink hair. Then she slipped and landed in a puddle of water. Then, as she walked into the classroom, she bumped her head on the doorframe. She could hear everyone laughing at her and her large forehead. In annoyance, she glared at them, her eyes flashing. Ino patted her shoulder. "It's nothing, really."

"Nothing?" Sakura asked, groaning. "Why don't you try? It's so damn embarrassing. I shouldn't have gone to eat lunch today. Ruined my good mood." She mumbled, throwing her pen on the desk, burying her head in her arms. "I hate my clumsiness!" She whined.

"Haruno! Your Maths results came back."

She stood up so quickly that her chair fell backwards. "My savior." She murmured under her breath. Without hesitation, she took her paper from the person's hands. _A plus_, she sighed with relief. "I'm so glad. Okasan will be glad." A rare expression spread across her face. Her friends glanced at each other.

Her mother died in a car crash when she was 5. Since then, she'd lived alone with her father in their small house. "She wanted me to go to University." She sighed wistfully. Her mother didn't go to University when she was young; her family was too poor back then. Hugging the paper to her chest, she smiled. "I hope she is proud of me."

Flashing her friends a thumbs-up she grinned. "I will be fine." This was her good-girl-pose.

lxl

Sakura had been looking forward to going home that day; she wanted to finish her homework as quickly as possible. She skipped while she hummed, but a note was cut off when she saw smoke rising from the direction of her home.

Her father had burned down the house down because of his culinary skills. Or rather, lack thereof. Sakura dropped her school bag and ran towards the house. Someone pulled her back. "Let me go!" She yelled, kicking.

"It's too dangerous! Someone hold her down!" Another person standing by grabbed her arm and pulled her to safety.

"My father is inside! So is my mother's picture! Unhand me!" She struggled, trying to get them to free her. Their grips simply tightened.

The fire burned fiercely, and Sakura couldn't do anything. Tears began running down her face when she thought all was lost, but then her father ran out of the house, his hand clutching a photo of her mother.

Sakura ran and hugged her father tightly, and she took her mother's picture and hugged it and sighed with relief. She turned back to the house and to her father. "Neh… Otousan… where shall we go? We have no where to live now…" He made no reply and stared at the fire in silence.

In the end, they ended up living in a tiny room that her father's friend had kindly lent them for a small rent. "Sakura." Her father's voice was solemn.

She looked up and stared at him. "Yeah?"

"We'll be living here from now on." He said.

"I know, father."

"Sorry about the house."

"It's okay." _It's **not** okay. Shannaro!_ She sighed. "It's okay father. I don't mind."

Her father didn't get to reply, because their door slid open then. A woman with raven hair and fair skin entered, she was speechless and stared at Sakura and her father, her eyes in tears. _Wow, she's pretty_. Sakura thought. "Hello, can I help you?" She inquired, not knowing what is happening.

"Soichiro!" The woman cried, sniffing. Her father rose from the ground. (**A/N: **I have no idea what Sakura's father's name is… So I call him Soichiro) "M-Mikoto?" He stammered, not believing what he was seeing. A gasp escaped Sakura's lips as the woman flung her arms around her around her father's neck. "I missed you so much!" She was even shocked when Soichiro hugged her back. "I missed you too, Mikoto!"

Right in front of the slightly burnt picture of her mother.

"W-Wait!" Sakura stammered, pointing her finger shakily at both of them, she was too shocked to speak. "You can't do this to mother!" She took off her shoe and threw it at her father's head. Inner Sakura was furious, kicking and screaming.

"Sakura, you got it wrong…" Soichiro explained, rubbing the lump on his head.

"Is this your daughter?" This woman called Mikoto said in excitement. Sakura took a step backwards. _I sense something fishy…_

"Yeah, that's my daughter…"

"She looks so much like her mother!" Mikoto said, smiling. Sakura blinked. _This witch knows my mother? _"Keep away from me." She took off her other shoe and brandished it dangerously in front of her like some kind of sword.

Soichiro touched his daughter on her arm. "She's not so bad. She was my best friend in High School." Sakura blinked, twice. "Best friends?" She asked shakily, she could feel her cheeks turning red. Again. She goes red easily. "So you are not…"

"No." He answered, embarrassed. Sakura let a relieved sigh. She bowed deeply. "I'm sorry for my behavior earlier. Please forgive me." Inner Sakura snorted derisively.

Mikoto smiled and patted her on the shoulder. "You're Sakura neh? You look so much like your mother." Sakura's cheeks warmed with pleasure. "Thanks. I guess…"

Mikoto turned to her father. "She's so cute! I always wanted a daughter!" She laughed. "I heard your house was burned down?"

Sakura's smile faded away immediately. _How did she know so quickly?_ Soichiro looked down and closed his eyes. "Yeah… it did. I feel sorry for Okasan." Mikoto patted his shoulder. "I'm sorry. Really. Fugaku and I were really worried about you. So would you like to live with us?" The question was fast and a blur. "What?" Sakura asked, she thought she heard it wrong.

Mikoto smiled, showing her pearly white teeth. "Really? That's great! You'll fit right in!" a mad glint showed in her eyes, one that demanded obedience.

"We couldn't…" Soichiro said.

"We don't mind really! It's kind of lonely with the four of us! It will be more fun living your high school friends, wouldn't it?" She winked at Sakura. Soichiro was silent. It was a wise choice.

lxl

They got out of Mikoto's car. She smiled at them both. "I'm so glad you agreed with me (read: kidnapped)! I can't wait to tell Fugaku! He's in the company, he will be home in a few hours… I guess." Sakura stood there, shocked. Jaw meets ground; ground meets jaw. "Oh my god, the house is _so_ huge! Is this yours, Mikoto-san?"

"Well… yeah you can say that." She replied, a little embarrassed.

"It's a nice house-" She didn't finish, when her eyes landed onto the name in front of the mailbox. _Uchiha_, she read. She frowned. "Uchiha?" She asked. Something about the name nagged at her.

"Shall we go in?"

"Yeah, yeah… Sakura, let's go."

"Coming…" Sakura said, her eyes still focusing onto the one little word. "Err… Mikoto-san… Do you have a son?" She asked, feeling her heart start to pound. Mikoto turned around, surprised. "Yes, I have two sons." Her words rang in her head. Sakura dragged herself to the door.

"Tadaima!" Mikoto called out. "You two, we have some guests living with us from now on." _I have some nasty feeling about this…_ Sakura thought nervously. It's the feeling you get when someone behind you is holding a very big gun. She touched her stomach. Footsteps were heard. And amidst a dramatic pause and choruses of 'Hallelujah!' a bright light shone from the staircase, as a figure stepped forward from the halo.

Standing in front of her was the Uchiha Sasuke.

"Y-You!" Sakura jumped, her cheeks going red again. "What? I'm in Uchiha Sasuke's house?" She fell to her knees. "Today is so not my day." She groaned.

"Haruno Sakura?" He asked, amused. "What are you doing in my house?" They both stared at each other. Mikoto turned around, surprised. "You two know each other? That's so great!" (Evil glint in her eyes. Evil cogs working in her head).

"She's in my class, mother…" He mumbled.

"Stop speaking so loudly. I'm trying to study here!" Another guy appeared in front of her. Sakura screamed. "Another Uchiha Sasuke!" She yelled.

"That's my brother, you idiot!" Sasuke said, rolling his eyes.

"Hey! A high school girl! She's cute." Itachi said slyly, glancing at his brother. "You know her?" Sakura groaned and placed her head into her hand. She did not know whether to feel glad or mortified. Living with her dream, Sasuke, that was good. But living with him, where he will be exposed to her clumsiness more than ever, that was bad.

"Come up Sakura. I'll show you to your room." Mikoto winked at her.

"Welcome to hell, Sakura…" She muttered to herself, before she dragged herself upstairs, after meeting the Uchiha brothers. "Welcome to hell."

lxl

**Authoress's Notes: **How was it? Good? Bad? Delete? Tell me what you think! Please review! Thanks to all. Especially to Earthborne. :3


	2. Under the same roof

**She will be Loved**

**Authoress's Note: **Thank you guys so much for reviewing! –Tears of joy- I finally can use my shiny, new computer! And sadly, I'm in New Zealand right now… Just arrived… It's hot here, UGH hate summers, I don't want to leave China! –Sigh- anyway this is chapter two! Yay! Sorry for the late update by the way…

Co-writer Earthborne:

**Co-Authoress's Note:** Lo… was kinda amazed at how many reviews this humble fic got… Will keep co-writing this as long as people wanna read it, I suppose.

**Disclaimer: **No, no. I don't own Naruto, even though I'm writing this story. .

**Chapter two: Under the same roof **

lxl

"This is your room, Sakura!" Mikoto announced proudly. Her raven hair swished in front of Sakura's face. _I feel like an idiot. _And she had every reason to be; her room was set in the classic western style, complete with soft peach colored drapes, light pink walls and a queen sized poster bed covered in soft toys and cushions. Sakura had the feeling that Mikoto-san had been expecting her.

"Ooh, thanks Mikoto-san." Sakura bowed politely. Lady Uchiha waved her hand in the air. "Sakura, call me Okaasan." Sakura blinked. _What?_ "Okaasan?" She questioned.

"Yeah…well you're like a daughter to me! And of course, daughter-in-law would be-" Mikoto stopped, and glanced at Sakura, who stared back. She managed a sheepish smile.

"Uh… nothing. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask!" Mikoto trilled, before turning around to leave. She mumbled something, then cackled before she left the bedroom. Sakura stared at her retreating back. She bashed her head on the desk. Repeatedly.

_She's crazy_. She groaned and flopped onto the bed. "I'm going to live with the Uchihas…" She murmured to herself, trying to make it real.

"I'm so dead…so dead. The fangirls are going to kill me when they find out… Ino is going to spread it because of her big mouth… AHH!"

Continuing to talk to herself, she reached out for her bag, searching for her red wallet, the one that contained the photo of Sasuke (she secretly took one when he wasn't looking). She pawed at her books, but couldn't find it. Sighing, she flopped onto her bed, deciding that it was probably at school.

Grabbing a lacy baby blue cushion, she hugged it to herself and decided that living with Sasuke might not be so bad after all. She dwelled on fantasies that involved Sasuke and her featured in some cheesy soap opera, kissing passionately. She squealed into the pillow, thrashing about her huge bed with the embarrassment of it all.

"You dropped this." Came an amused voice from the doorway.

She jumped up from the bed, her head turned towards the door. "_You_."

And of course, it just _had_ to be Sasuke leaning against the doorframe with a bemused expression, his hand holding out the red wallet she had been searching for. Her face colored to a shade reminiscent of her hair. She snatched the wallet from his hand, but her fingers slipped, and the wallet fell to the floor with a thump.

"Enjoying your time here, Haruno?" He smirked, bending to pick up the wallet for her.

"Ye-NO! Of course not!" Sakura stammered, hastily bending to pick her own wallet up as well. They banged heads. "Ow!" She cried indignantly, clutching her head. He glared at her, rubbing his own forehead. The annoyed expression upped a notch; his left eye was twitching.

He looked down at her wallet again. It had flipped open, and now revealed a gorgeous Sasuke sitting at his desk, hand clasped before his brooding face, in the classic Uchiha-is-holier-than-thou pose.

_Shannaro! _Inner Sakura and outer Sakura screamed in her head.

Both of them stared at the picture. Silence reigned. She stood up and kicked her wallet away. "Sorry."

Sasuke shrugged. "Whatever. Dinner is ready." Sakura stared after him. She grabbed his sleeve, wanting to offer an explanation, _any_ excuse for her stalker-like photo of him.

"Leave me alone." He muttered, yanking his arm away and slamming the door behind him, leaving Sakura to stare open-mouthed at the door. She clenched her fist. "That little - " A knock was heard. Sakura flung it open.

Sasuke looked annoyed. "Come down to dinner." He bit the words out, an icy glare flashing her way. She decided to go down quietly.

lxl

Nobody talked much through dinner, except for Mikoto asking her husband about work. Fugaku mumbled in reply. Sakura blinked as Mikoto shoved food onto her plate. "Mikoto-san-"

"You're too skinny! You need to eat more." Mikoto ordered. Sakura stared at her plate. "Err…" Soichiro nudged her with his elbow; she glanced at her father, who glared at her pointedly. "Uh…Thanks, Mikoto-san."

"Okaasan." Mikoto corrected, smiling at her. Itachi and Sasuke choked across the table. "Soichiro, remember when we were in high school camp?" Fugaku hastily asked, he didn't want his wife to continue.

"Of course…" Soichiro laughed. "It's hard not to remember."

"You fell and broke your left leg." Mikoto added. So the meaningless dinner went on. Sasuke's glare increased tenfold, and Sakura avoided his gaze. Itachi ate his dinner quietly, expecting and accepting the inevitable drama about to unfold.

lxl

After dinner, Mikoto stopped Sakura from going to her room. She beamed. "Sakura, I have something to show you! Hopefully you will be able to adapt into this family more." She held out a photo album. Sakura looked at her. "Photos?"

"Yup, do you mind?" The undeniable gleam was in her eyes again. Sakura quailed underneath.

Sakura shook her head. "It's fine. I'll look at it with you." Going into the room, Mikoto and Sakura sat on the bed, while Lady Uchiha flipped open the red leather bound album.

Mikoto took out a photo. "So cute neh?" It was a girl riding on a tricycle, with a long white lacy dress; her long midnight colored hair tied up with a red ribbon. The girl was obviously giggling with delight.

Sakura squealed, "She's so cute! Who is she? Your niece? She's adorable!" Mikoto laughed, and flipped the photo over and pointed at the caption and name. _Sasu-chan, 2 years old._ Time froze for Sakura, and her entire world was narrowed to that one sentence.

Sakura choked. "_Sasuke-kun_? But…" A thought drilled into her mind. _Sasuke-kun is a girl._ "He's a girl!" She screamed, and let go of the picture. Her vision tipped dangerously. The raven-haired woman looked shocked. "No! It's nothing like that!"

Sakura stopped hyperventilating and stared. "What?"

"It's Sasuke, my son. I-" She took Sakura's hand, squeezed and sighed wistfully. "I always wanted a daughter. So when he was small, I dressed him up as a girl. Itachi was already too smart, so he always refused. Girls are so adorable aren't they? That's why I was so pleased when you came to live with us! I feel like I have a daughter!" She squealed in happiness.

"This…is Sasuke-kun? He's not…" Sakura let the sentence hang in the air. She didn't trust herself to finish it.

"No." Mikoto reassured her. Sakura sighed with relief.

"Neh…Mikoto-san. Do you mind if I keep it with me?"

Mikoto smiled and patted her head. "Of course not."

_School next day…_

"Sakura…you're not talking…" Ino pouted, pulling her pink hair. Sakura yelped and slapped her hand off. "Ow! That hurts! And so?" She glared at her blonde friend who was hiding behind Hinata. "I'm thinking."

Ino smirked. "Congratulations, how does it feel?" Ino pressed her forehead to hers. "Forehead-girl, spill…" Sakura pushed her off. "Man, you're scary." She rubbed her forehead. "And _your_ forehead is hard as steel!"

"Yeah, yeah. Tell us already." Ino demanded.

Her face flushed, she glanced at them, bit her lip nervously and took a deep breath. "I-I'm living with the Uchihas." She stuttered. A roaring truck interrupted her.

"What? I can't hear you."

"I'm living with the Uchihas!" A mob of giggling girls rushed past, drowning her voice.

"What did you say!" Her friend demanded.

"I'M LIVING WITH THE UCHIHAS!" She closed her eyes and yelled.

They stared, she stared back, and her hand automatically flew to her mouth.

"You _what_?" Tenten demanded. Sakura glared at Ino, whose face was on the table, banging her fists, laughing her ass off. Sakura's face was as red as Sasuke's favorite tomatoes.

"Stop laughing!" She groaned, face in hands. Hinata smiled. "That's great! I'm happy for you!" Sakura scowled. "Yeah, just shut it-Wait, you are?" Hinata beamed and nodded. "Thank god someone understands human. I don't speak pig." She glared at Ino through her fingers.

Ino grabbed her hand. "God, that's so funny. You're living with the Uchihas? Did you break all the furniture?" Sakura raised her fist, looking ready to kill.

"Ok, ok. I'll stop." Ino said breathlessly, gasping for breath. "That's great news Sakura! But why the hell would you be living with the Uchihas?" She took a bite of her lettuce sandwich.

Sakura lowered her head. "My… My house burned down." Ino spluttered, Tenten stared; her jaw dropped and Hinata, who had low blood pressure and was prone to fainting, collapsed onto the ground. Sakura looked embarrassed. "No need to look so shocked."

"_Shocked_? Your frigging house burned down! And you're telling us to calm down?" Ino grabbed her shoulder and shook them. Sakura looked away. Hinata recovered enough to pat her shoulder. "What about your father?"

"He's alive." She said, shrugging. "It was his fault anyway."

They all sighed in relief, never mind the way Sakura so casually said 'He's alive'. Something caught Ino's attention. She smirked evilly. Turning over, she elbowed Sakura. "What? Stop nudging me! It hurts! Look, piggy-" She stopped and stared at the person standing behind her. "Err… hi?"

"Hi." Sasuke said dryly. "Come with me." He grabbed her wrist and walked away. "W-Wait! Where are we going?" Her 'friends' 'oohed' behind her. His fangirls were beyond speechless, never mind Sakura, her mind went _blank_, she was so discombobulated. "_Sasuke-kun?_" They screeched. "What are you doing with _her_?"

"EHHH! Sakura-chan! What are you doing with Sasuke-teme?" Naruto's voice yelled behind them. Sakura turned around and offered her best smile and an apology before she was jerked outside the cafeteria. Sakura caught a muttering of "Dobe." From Sasuke.

"Can you please let me go?" Sakura asked him when they were alone. Not that she wanted him to let go, but it was distracting.

He took out a lunch box from his bag. "Mother gave you the wrong lunch box. Can I have mine back?" He held out a pink lunch box, decorated with hearts and bows. Sakura blushed. "Yeah…sure." She started searching in her bag.

Four meters away, Ino, Tenten, Hinata and Naruto were hiding behind a bush, trying to get what they were saying. "I can't hear them!" Naruto whispered. "That bastard! Treating my best friend that way!" He rose and raised a fist. Ino and Tenten grabbed his T-shirt and pulled him down. "Shut up!" Ino hissed. "We can't hear them because of you!"

Sasuke took the dark blue lunch box from Sakura's hands and started to walk away.

"Wait!" Sakura called out. He frowned and turned. "What?" His dark eyes were glowing embers. Well, they weren't _really_ glowing embers; otherwise they won't be of much use in the old optical area, would they?

"Can you…please help me study English for the next final exam? I want to achieve high marks…" Sakura asked. Sasuke raised one eyebrow. "Aren't you smart?" He said flatly.

"Not smart enough." She responded sweetly. "It's my worst subject."

"Why should I do it?" He sneered, turning away to leave.

Sakura smirked. "I see… you are such a mean crossdresser…" She admonished. Sasuke froze. "What?" He asked in a strangled voice.

"Oops, slipped from my mouth." Sakura said in a saccharine tone. She smiled smugly and took out the photo. Sasuke's eyes widened with shock. "I…You! Where did you get this?" He was visibly trembling with rage now.

Sakura laughed. "Se-cr-et." Inner Sakura was practically howling with laughter, tears of mirth running down her face.

"I never realized you were so _pretty_!" Sakura sang, hugging the picture to herself. "What would your fangirls and friends say if they see this?" She stuck her tongue out and turned around on her heel to leave. Sasuke grabbed her shoulder. "Give me that picture." His voice sent a chill down her spine.

Sadly, Sakura was used to this kind of voice; after all, you can't be friends with Yamanka Ino and not grow immune to horrible threats, empty or not.

Sakura slapped his hand away. "No. Why should I? You have no right to take things away from other people." She replied haughtily (later Sakura would be mortified to find that she was being _flirty and coy._)

"That picture is _mine_." Sasuke bit out through gritted teeth. Sakura silenced him by putting a finger to his lips. "It _was _yours, Sasuke-kun. Now it's mine."

Sasuke took a deep breath. "Look, woman-"

"Unless… you help me study." Sakura interrupted him. Sasuke stopped talking, he _glowered_, and then he seethed. "Are you blackmailing me?"

"You think?" Sakura asked innocently, batting her lashes.

"Fine. I will." Sasuke yielded. "Then you have to-"

"Of course I will give this photo back." Sakura smiled. "But if I'm not in the top 10, you'll have to keep teaching me." She patted his shoulder, waving the photo in front of his face. "How do I know you won't fail it on purpose?" He questioned, suspicion in his eyes. She mustered her most innocent smile. He stared at her. The smile became a little fixed.

"I have my own sense of honor, Sasuke-kun. I _will_ study my hardest." She promised in a solemn tone. He snorted in disbelief, but sighed in both defeat and frustration.

"Don't worry, I won't show this to other people. Goodbye!" She skipped back to the cafeteria. He stared nonplussed at her back.

_To be continued..._

lxl

**Authoress's Notes: **How was it? Enjoyed it? Hope you did. –Nod nod- Please review! Thanks! See you all in Chapter three. Hehe.


	3. One little photo, so much carnage

**She will be Loved**

**Authoress's Note: **Thanks for those reviews! I appreciated them! Sasuke was a cross-dresser, nice eh? –Falls off chair laughing- Ahem anyway…Hope you enjoy chapter three. It's currently the Summer Holidays right now, spending all my time on the computer… Ah, can't wait till winter… -sits there and start waiting- Oh yes, and thank you Jess for co-writing XD

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto. Yet.

**Co-writer Earthborne:**

Rawr, fear our craziness. And I don't own anything I quote in this fic.

**Chapter three: One little photo, so much carnage**

lxl

"I'm home!" Sakura skipped into the room with a huge grin. Mikoto's head popped through the kitchen door. "Welcome home!" She greeted cheerfully.

Sasuke all but dragged himself home, with a weary look on his face. He glared at his mother when he entered the living room. Mikoto jumped back, Sakura and her looked at each other. "Something wrong?" Mikoto asked innocently. Sakura couldn't help but smirk.

"Mikoto-san, don't worry, it's nothing, he's just having a stomach ache. Nothing to worry about!" Sakura said, sending a glance at Sasuke, signaling him to leave. He muttered something under his breath before he lugged himself up to his room. Sakura secretly smiled happily. Mikoto noticed. "Something good happening?"

"Yeah…" Sakura watched his back dreamily. "I'm going to-" She stopped and clasped her hand over her mouth. "Nothing! Nothing at all! Excuse me, I'm going to do my homework now." She bowed her head and practically sprinted from the room. Mikoto sighed happily and ran her hand through her long hair. "Ganbatte, Sakura!"

Itachi, who was sitting at the kitchen table eating his snack, looked up from his book and rolled his eyes. It's not as if it's the pink haired girl that needs help, he thought ironically, she's already come to terms with her feelings. His brother, however, denial is going to be his best friend.

lxl

Sasuke threw his bag onto his bed and collapsed on it. "This isn't my day…" He muttered to himself, closing his eyes. When he opened his eyes again, he saw Sakura looking down at him with a dreamy expression. Sasuke jumped up from his bed, startled.

"How did you get in? Don't you ever _knock_?" He snapped, disturbed by her sneakiness, much like his mother's. It was not a good sign. Sakura shrugged and sat down next to him. "Well…it was open, so…" She beamed. "You looked cute when you close your eyes." Sasuke blinked. "Do not mention that word in front of my face."

It was Sakura's turn to blink. "What? _Cute_?" She watched him shudder, looking disgusted. Sakura laughed. "It's a very normal word! Don't you think so?"

"No." He snapped. "You wouldn't think it _normal_ if you have it shrieked into your ear 24/7 by a bunch of mindless bimbos." Sakura shrugged and tugged strands of loose hair back behind her ear. "So, shall we study now?"

"I'm not in the mood." Sasuke said flatly. The pink haired girl squinted her eyes and studied his face. She sighed finally and took the photo out of her pocket. "Doesn't bother me… I guess I'll show them this little photo then…" She turned around gave him an evil grin. She turned to leave. Sasuke grabbed her wrist to stop her.

"You." He said through gritted teeth, sending her a look that would have poisoned a reservoir. "Are evil." Sakura smiled. "So, I take that as a yes?" She sat down beside him again, playing with her hair.

"What do you want to study on?" He asked impatiently.

"I told you haven't I? English. I hate English." She wrinkled her nose, digging through her bag. "Here it is." Handing over to him a dictionary-like English textbook. Sasuke stared at it, raising one ebony eyebrow.

The book was even thicker than the fifth volume of Harry Potter. Not that he read it or anything, you know. "I bought this in the bookshop beside the school. Great book." Sakura commented rather cheerfully. Somehow, Sasuke had a feeling that she was doing this on purpose.

_A few moments later…_

"You're doing this wrong!" Sasuke snapped impatiently, that infamous scowl of his chiseled into his features. Sakura tapped her pencil on the table repeatedly. "It's not my fault! I don't get this at all." Sasuke glanced at her, and groaned. "How is it possible for you to be so…" He paused, searching for the correct words in his impressive vocabulary. Sakura glared. "Excuse me?"

"Never mind. What did you get last year?" He asked, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"B plus." Sakura mumbled. "That was the lowest."

He raised both eyebrows. "How did you get so low?" Sasuke asked in disbelief. Sakura threw a cushion at his face, glaring at him. He glared back, gritting his teeth.

A knock was heard; both of them turned their attention to the door. Mikoto entered with a smile on her face. "Hello, children!" She said cheerfully. Sakura gulped, sensing that something bad was going to happen, even though she knew Mikoto was on her side. Perhaps it had to do with the frighteningly insane smile on Mikoto's face. Sakura noticed the tray she was holding. She grinned. "Great! Food, I'm starving." She held out her hands. Sasuke coughed. "You're not eating this."

"Why not?" She whined. He might look amazing in whatever he does, but he sure can be a bit of a jackass sometimes, she thought gloomily.

"We're _studying_. Not eating." He replied firmly.

Sakura stared at him. "It's only a snack. Come on." She wheedled. He glared even harder.

Mikoto laughed beside her. "Couples shouldn't fight! It ruins everything." She winked. Sasuke gawked at his mother. "Kaasan! We're not a couple!" Sasuke couldn't believe just how blunt his mother was being.

Mikoto chuckled. "I know the truth." She sing-songed, winked and left the room. Both of them stared at the place where she last stood. Sakura sighed and sat down on the chair. Sasuke shook his head. "Shut up and listen to me." She decided she would have to follow what he is saying.

lxl

"No! This is the wrong figure!" Sasuke explained, red in the face, he was getting impatient. What a surprise. Sakura winced at his tone. "I- you didn't tell me!" She stuttered, fidgeting. She glanced sideways at the Uchiha, who was glaring at her. "_How_ can you get this wrong? It's so simple!"

"English is my worst subject! Didn't I tell you that already?" Sakura puffed, frowning, tapping her ink pen on the table soundlessly. "It's not my fault." She added lamely, tucking her hair back nervously.

Sasuke stared at her, finally noticing her discomfort. Thankfully, he thought, she's different from the other fangirls. They would have already tried to jump me about now. He looked hard at the roots of her hair, musing on whether or not it really _is_ natural. He jerked his gaze away when she turned around.

Hn, Sakura thought miserably, Sasuke must be really mad. He's all _red_, for heaven's sake!

"Fine whatever." He pointed to a line of words in Lycidas, a poem by John Milton. "Pathetic fallacy, or anthropomorphic fallacy," Sasuke began, in a tone of forced patience, "is a subset of reification, like when animals and objects are shown as not just alive, but human-like and intelligent. Look, the flowers are weeping for Lycidas, who is dead. Do you get me? It is not personification!"

Sakura stared hard, willing her brain to soak up the information.

"Oh, but I thought personification is making objects or qualities become human?" He popped a panadol, willing his temper and blood pressure to calm down. "Personification is direct and and explicit! Pathetic fallacy is much broader and more allusive, and it's used for prose!"

He handed her a pile – no, stack – no, _brick_ of papers. Sakura gawked at it. "Just do whatever they tell you to do. I'll check later." He then went back to his book on _Molecular Biology_.

"This is so many! She whined, "And don't _you_ study at all? Exams are coming up!" Sasuke smirked. "I don't study. No, correction, I don't _need_ to study." He said smugly.

Sakura's jaw dropped. "You don't _study_! Then how did you pass all your exams with top marks?" This guy is incredible. Yup, didn't you guess? She was getting mad. He doesn't even have to _study_ during _exam time_ just because he was _blessed_ with smart brains?

"Don't tell me you study." Sasuke drawled, with a look of false shock on his handsome features. He was enjoying the way her face was becoming the shade of her natural(?) - He was still guessing - hair.

"Of course I do!" Sakura protested. "It's only normal to study. Unlike you…" She paused, searching for words. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, amused.

"Just because I don't have an IQ of 170 like _some_ arrogant people, doesn't mean my arms drag on the ground when I walk." She said finally, with a glare that would've peeled stone. Sasuke snorted. "Shut up and keep working."

Sakura pouted and buried her head down mutinously, mumbling something about 'stick' and 'your ass' and 'beat you with it'. Sasuke glanced down with an amused look at her. "I heard that."

lxl

Outside in the corridor, Lady Uchiha was kneeling down by the door, trying to get what they are saying. A small smile played by her lips; clearly glad her son is with the pink haired girl. She squinted through the door. "Can't see anything!" She muttered to herself.

"Mikoto!" Fugaku's voice spoke behind her. She immediately pulled her husband down, shutting him up. And pointed at those two inside studying. Fugaku nodded slowly, not at all getting what was going on in his wife's mind. "What are they doing?" Fugaku whispered.

"Don't you dare intrude." She whispered back.

"Course not." Fugaku said defensively. "But just what exactly are they doing?"

"Studying! Exams are coming up!" Mikoto hissed, taking a tiny little camera from behind her back. Fugaku looked even more confused. "Studying? But Sasuke never studies and- _What are you doing_?" He stopped curtly and stared in disbelief at his wife. Mikoto put a finger against her lips telling him to hush.

_Click. Snap! Whir..._

Suddenly the door flung open. Mikoto gulped and stared up. Her great son, Uchiha Sasuke leaning by the door, glared down at his mother, "Just _what_ are you doing?" He thundered.

Mikoto quickly hid her camera; acting as if crouching behind a door taking photos of people in someone's bedroom was normal. "Oh, nothing, nothing. It's just that we're waiting for you to be finished with class. Dinner's getting cold." She admonished.

"Sorry if I've been the unwitting cause of such a tragedy." He snapped fiercely and slammed the door behind him.

"Ano…What's wrong with Mikoto-san?" Sakura glanced back. Sasuke sat down beside her. "Nothing." He mumbled, taking a bite of his bread.

"Hey you're eating!" Sakura protested.

"Yes I am. Gee, you're observant, if only you could be like that during your English classes." He said sarcastically.

"You said-"

"I know what I said. But you're different. Shut up and do your work."

Sakura was speechless; but she did what she was told.

lxl

Sakura wasn't sure what was wrong with the crowd at lunchtime; she found it weird that girls were giving her evil glares. Ino looked excited. Tenten wanted to go the library. Hinata poked her index fingers together and tried not to faint with Naruto standing so close beside her.

"Let's go!" Ino dragged them into the crowd. Sakura flinched; she couldn't see anything except people's bodies, nothing else. Finally, they squeezed through the crowd. Her blonde friend covered her mouth in shock. She was speechless and pulled Sakura's sleeve. She didn't notice until she saw a small picture stuck onto the notice board.

"Um, Sakura. Is that you and… Sasuke?" Ino said distantly. Sakura gawked at it. It was Sasuke and her studying together. She had no idea who took this photo. Her jaw crashed to the ground. She was too shocked and embarrassed to speak.

"Haruno Sakura!" A high-pitched voice shattered the low mutterings of the crowd. Sakura shuddered and turned around; the president of the Uchiha fanclub, flanked by her cronies, swooped down on her like rabid flying squirrels.

"Can I help you…" Sakura mumbled weakly, still staring at the picture. The Uchiha Fanclub President snatched the picture from the wall. Sakura winced. "What _is_ this?"

"No idea." Sakura said truthfully. "I want to know that myself."

"Yeah right! Like we would believe you!" Fangirl number one said. (They do not deserve to be named.)

"Believe what you like." Sakura said flippantly. Ino, who was besides her, stuck out her tongue.

"Haruno Sakura! If you think _our_ Sasuke-kun likes you, you're wrong!" The President, named Yura, said nastily. Sakura glared. "Excuse me? He was never _yours_!"

"He belongs to us!" Yura screeched aggressively, hands on her huge hips. Her mini skirt was so short it went _beyond_ suggestive. The cloth was having trouble deciding whether it was a skirt or a belt.

"Shut up woman. He doesn't belong to _anybody_. He's his own person!" Sakura yelled, her eyes flashing dangerously, looking homicidal. Ino cheered beside her.

"Get to the point. What were you doing with Sasuke-kun?" Yura demanded, swishing her black shoulder-length hair behind her, pinning Sakura back with a look that could strip the stripes from a tiger.

"I…" Sakura's voice trailed off. The entire crowd waited with baited breath. "It is none of your business what I do with Sasuke-kun!" She replied hotly, slightly pink. Yura and her evil servants looked murderously shocked. "Y-You called him Sasuke-kun!"

Sakura shrugged. "So?" She asked, genuinely puzzled.

Fangirl number two flipped open her notebook; pushed up her thick glasses and she read. "R-Rule number 47! Never call Uchiha Sasuke _Sasuke-kun_ unless you're older than him or you're with three people!"

Sakura burst out laughing. "_This _is the Uchiha fanclub? It's pathetic! You go around following him like dogs, pressing yourselves up against him, acting like a bunch of _bimbos_ on steroids, and you _dare_ to call yourselves The Uchiha Sasuke fanclub? There are words for that, you know, its _stalking _and _harassment._"

"_How dare you insult us, you bitch!" _They screamed, reaching a level of noise that was almost too high for humans to detect. Yura raised one perfectly manicured hand, ready to strike Sakura. She closed her eyes, waiting for the blow. But it didn't happen.

Silence.

Sakura opened her eyes slowly and saw Sasuke holding Yura's wrist, staring sternly at her. "Fighting is not allowed in the school." He intoned flatly.

"S-Sasuke-kun!" Sakura squeaked like a mouse.

President Yura offered her best smile. "Sasuke-kun, I was just asking _her_-" She glared at Sakura, "what you guys were doing in the photo."

Sasuke, with a puzzled frown, took the photo from Yura's hands, and stared. His face was still frozen in apathy, but his eyes were furious, he was even trembling in anger.

"Well?" Yura prompted with a syrupy tone, smug that Sakura was going to get her comeuppance for being insolent to her.

"It is no business of yours with what I do with Sakura." He responded, crumpling the paper up and lobbing it at the rubbish bins. Inner Sakura cheered silently.

Yura pouted, but turned on her heel with the other fangirls and stomped off, sashaying her hips with all the grace of a laboring hippo. He looked around at Sakura, with an undecipherable expression on his face.

Sakura fidgeted.

"I didn't come to help you. I just don't tolerate fighting." Sasuke glanced icily down at her. A few more posters of the photo fluttered by, tossed by the wind.

"I don't know who did it." Sakura said quickly, biting her lip as she spoke to the ground. He didn't answer her; instead he turned around and walked off.

"Wait!" Sakura ran after him.

lxl

"I'm sorry." Sakura bowed low at him when they were in class. "I'm really sorry for the trouble." Sasuke didn't even look at her. Sakura sighed; blinking back tears and went back to her seat.

Ino poked her from behind.

"Oww!" Sakura cried out, rubbing her back.

"It was just a tap, it didn't even hurt, did it?" Ino said impatiently.

"Of course it hurt, you Neanderthal!" Sakura yelled indignantly.

"Gomen." Ino apologized quickly, although she didn't sound very sincere, maybe it's because a smirk danced at her lips. "Neh, what was the picture about?"

"Well, um, you see. Sasuke-kun is helping me studying English." Sakura whispered. Ino whistled. "Lucky you! Such a smart guy teaching you!"

"Shut up!" Sakura hissed. "Not so loud. I don't want everyone to know!" She could feel Sasuke's dark eyes on her back. She shuddered and didn't dare to look back. "And you've got Shikamaru anyway," Sakura teased, "and he's even smarter than Sasuke-kun!" Ino scowled, "He's too lazy to be counted smart. I had to nag at him to teach me." She tried to frown again, but Sakura didn't miss the look in her eyes.

"So why would Sasuke-san teach you?" Ino asked, suspicious.

"Oh I had this-" Sakura stopped immediately. "Nothing!" She was never a good liar.

Ino laughed. "Yeah right. _Nothing_. You can tell me!"

Sakura sighed in defeat. She looked around and whispered in her ear. Ino's eyes widened, her sapphire eyes twinkled with mirth. "You're _joking_!" She then burst out laughing, slamming her hand onto the desk repeatedly.

"Don't tell this to him. He'll kill me." Sakura told her quietly. Ino waved her hand in front of her meaning she understood. Sakura sighed. "Everyone is staring at you." She whispered, even though she knew Ino didn't give a rat's ass what people thought of her.

"I want to see the picture." Ino said. Sakura looked shocked. "No! You can't, I promised him!"

Before Ino could protest, a bony, claw-like hand slammed onto the desk, causing both of them to jump back. And who is this mysteriously rude person with manicured fingers? Go on, take a guess.

"So… _here _you are." Yura drawled, her two evil servants sniggering behind her. Sakura wasn't sure what there was to snigger about.

"I want to invite you to Karaoke." The sudden question caught Sakura off guard. "What?" She asked incredulously, not believing what she heard.

"I don't like repeating myself." Yura snapped impatiently, rolling her eyes. "You're coming to Karaoke Box with us." Sakura was frozen. _Is she **mad**?_

"You do not command me, evil woman."

"Ooh, the diss du jour," Ino laughed.

"Oh well, I guess Sasuke-kun will have to hang out with us then…"

"What? Sasuke-kun is coming?" Sakura demanded, she thought she was going to have a heart attack.

"Of course…" Yura said smugly.

Sakura turned around and stared at Sasuke, and marched up to him. "You're going to Karaoke?" She asked.

"I have nothing else to do." He replied, looking up at her with a challenging smirk.

She marched back, glaring at the three stooges. "I'm going."

The president smiled brightly. "I knew you're going to say that. See you at five!" She waved and walked out of the classroom. Sakura stared at their retreating backs. Ino gaped. "What was _that_ about?"

lxl

"Sakura-san…" Yura addressed her politely. Sakura raised an eyebrow. _What is **wrong** with the world today?_ "Would you like to sing?" Sakura flinched. "No thanks." She sipped her coke. She choked when one of the guys started singing off-key. She noticed that she wasn't the only one that was flinching.

Yura turned to Sasuke, staying very, **very** close to him. _Shannaro! _Inner Sakura shrieked, clenching her fist. She batted her eyelashes at him. Sasuke backed away slowly.

"What do you think of Sakura-san?" She asked in a sweet voice, dropping her eyelids down in what Sakura was sure she thought was an extremely sexy look, but which really just made her look dopey.

He didn't answer straight away. He looked over at Sakura, who looked down, biting her lips and feeling out of place.

"She's nothing to me." He replied. Sakura almost cried.

"What about me?" Yura persisted, pressing her body as close up to him as possible. _Bitch! _Inner Sakura yelled. She was going to blow up any moment. For Sasuke, there was a confusing moment where he wasn't sure which was the sofa and which was she, there was so much softness pressing against him.

"You're nothing to me as well." He stood up abruptly and moved away, making Yura fall over.

Inner Sakura pointed and laughed her ass off. _Take that!_ Outer Sakura stomped on the giggle that wanted out.

"Oh I guess Sasuke-kun just doesn't like girls very much. After all, he _is_ a bit feminine…" Sakura's voice trailed off, sneaking a glance at Sasuke, who went as pale as a sheet of paper. He stood up quickly and grabbed her hand. "Come with me."

"Oops, silly me." Sakura smiled smugly at Yura. She looked ready to kill, her cheeks was red, making her resemble the ass of a baboon. Sasuke pulled her to a corner where no one can see them. "Yes?" Sakura said innocently. "You will be the death of me, woman," He snarled as he slammed her up against the wall. "Oww!" She protested. "You- Oomph!" Before she could say anything, Sasuke leaned down and kissed her. On the lips.

_**To be continued…**_

lxl

**Authoress's Note: **Finished! So sorry for the late update! Is it late? T.T Gomen yo! I'll update my next chapter ASAP. Please review! I love reviews XD. Who doesn't hehe. Anyway, see you all in chapter four! XD, remember to review!

**Co-Authoress's Note: **Evil cliffie of doom!Don't kill me! Kill _her_! I only co-write, she wrote the evil cliffie.


	4. Moving out?

**She will be Loved**

**Authoress's Notes: **Thank you for the reviews! –big grin- They are really nice! Wahh, sorry for the evil cliffie! I didn't mean to! –hides- The kiss is a bit random is it? He kissed her because he likes her (?) He just doesn't know his real feelings! –nudge nudge- if you know what I mean! Of course we won't know this yet, hehe. Kissing her maybe just to shut up her up and not showing anyone the little evil picture… Hm… o.O But I like it! Hoho.

Kaoru Tada wrote the manga Mischievous Kiss, or Itazura Na Kiss, on which we base this humble fic upon.

Ahem, on with the story…

**Co-writer **Earthborne

The lateness this time is my fault… -sheepish grin-

**Disclaimer: **Don't own Naruto… -sniff-

**Chapter four: Moving out?**

lxl

Sasuke smirked and left, leaving a shocked Sakura behind, standing there staring at the empty space in front of her. _What **was **that! _She felt like screaming as she gathered herself up from the ground, looking spaced out. A million thoughts were jumbling through her mind as if they were in the Olympics. Some were swimming, others dancing, another was leaping and all of them were racing.

Sakura had always fantasized of her first kiss with Sasuke. It was supposed to be sweet, caring and romantic, preferably with a backdrop of a castle, rainbows and unicorns. But instead, it tasted like tomatoes, was too sudden, and in a dark, dank and creepy corner of a shady Karaoke bar. Ugh.

Sasuke acted normal when they got home, but Sakura was in a constant daze and jumped when someone would talk to her. She wondered what the kiss meant to Sasuke, but didn't have the guts to ask him.

Mikoto told Sakura that she looked extra pretty in her dress, but Sasuke, on the other hand, told her she seemed fatter than before. Mikoto scolded Sasuke, while Sakura went red from both irritation and embarrassment. How can he be so cold to someone he kissed? She thought huffily, then flushed when the realisation sunk in; _he_ kissed _her_.

lxl

Desperate for help and advice on why Sasuke was acting so cold, she blabbed the whole thing to her friends at interval in the cafeteria. Ino barged up to Sasuke (although Sakura tried to stop her) and asked him if Sakura could be his girlfriend. He smirked and told them it's impossible.

That made Sakura angry and hurt. She ran to the girls' restroom and stayed there for the rest of the period.

When she got back to class (hitting her forehead on the doorframe again), she realized her English exam is in a week after the notice first comes up. She stared wordlessly at the paper she was holding; she glanced over at Sasuke, who was looking down at the paper in boredom. _Ahh! Damn you genius! Shannaro!_ Inner Sakura shouted, clenching her fist tightly.

Naruto, who was beside her, was watching her silently with a (rare) thoughtful look; he followed her gaze and found her looking at Uchiha Sasuke, his self-proclaimed rival. His lips twitched, a vein popped, and he started growling under his breath. He cleared his throat. "Sakura-chan!"

"Hmm…?" Sakura answered vacantly, not even gracing Naruto with a glance. She was still staring at Sasuke, who turned around abruptly and glared at her. She jerked her eyes away and pretended nothing had happened.

"Will you go out with me?" Naruto asked, grinning in his boyish way.

"Haha…funny- _Say what_!" Sakura shrieked, drawing the attention of some of the classmates, including Sasuke. Sakura looked petrified. Sasuke can feel himself frowning.

"Go out with me!" Naruto insisted, using that puppy-eyed look that Sakura found adorable. Sakura thought quickly: she had always known that Naruto wanted something more than friendship, but she had brushed it off as a simple crush. Now that he made it explicit, it was going to be harder to turn him down.

"Um, Naruto, don't take this the wrong way, but… You're my friend, and I don't want to spoil that." Sakura said carefully, rejecting him as nicely as she could, letting him down slowly. But her effort and concern was wasted; Naruto looked crestfallen, as if he was a wounded puppy (or fox) that she had cruelly kicked in the ribs.

Amongst the excited mutterings of the crowd at Naruto's latest humiliation, no one noticed Hinata shrink into her shell even more.

"Ah! It must be because you are still hung up about that angst-ridden Uchiha!" Naruto shouted, clearly not content with taking his rejection quietly. He made angst sound like leprosy. "I will take you ON and take you DOWN, Sasuke-teme!" He proclaimed, standing on his desk with one fist raised for victory.

"I am inspired by this show of The Flames of Youth!" Rock Lee declared, standing up as well. "Hyuuga Neji! I challenge you!" Lee's voice was (amazingly) heard above Naruto's loud voice. Hinata bent down even lower when her cousin's name was mentioned.

"What shall we compete at, Hyuuga Neji?" Lee's voice went into a false baritone.

Sakura shifted from her seat, stealing a glance at Tenten, seated just a little to her left and above. She was not surprised to see Tenten smiling at Neji, then looking exasperated as Lee proceeded with his rant. They've been friends since elementary school, with Lee always trying to outdo Neji.

Neji ignored him and continued to read his book. Lee felt rejected. "Hyuuga Neji!" Lee slammed his fist onto Neji's table, creating a fine hairline crack on the graffitied desk. Lee had rather impressive strength, but what Neji might lack in strength, he made up for quick thinking and his knowledge of pressure points (his family specialized in acupuncture).

"Just what do you think you're doing?" The teacher's shrill voice was heard behind them. Lee gulped, his 'bravado' instantly diminishing. Neji smirked, glad that this pest would soon leave.

"Go run around the field for 10 times!" She ordered, pushing her thick black glasses up madly, leaving an obvious red mark on her nose, and making it look even bigger than usual.

"Yes miss!" Lee yelped and sprinted out the door faster than the eye could follow.

lxl

Sakura followed Ino quietly to the cafeteria, ready to just eat her lunch and go study in the library. But to Sakura's horror, Naruto was standing on the lunch table, waving his arms animatedly, while yelling at her loudly. "Hey sweetheart! Come sit with me!"

He pointed to the empty spot next to him. Sakura looked terrified, and backed away. Everyone snickered.

Hinata looked sad again, shifting uncomfortably. Sakura noticed, and frowned. It wasn't right that poor shy Hinata just had to fall for the most asinine and thickheaded moron on the planet. She nudged Hinata, "Hinata, why don't you go sit with Naruto instead? I have to go to the library, but someone needs to keep him in check."

"Ehhh! But Sakura-chan! Wait!" Naruto complained. Sakura smiled and waved goodbye. Naruto pouted a bit, but welcomed Hinata warmly, even going so far as to offer to share their lunches together.

"Is it really ok?" Ino whispered besides her, looking back anxiously at Hinata, red as a tomato and unpacking her bento with trembling fingers. Sakura snorted. "It's fine. Don't worry about it. And what are you doing next to me? Shouldn't you be off with Shikamaru?" She teased.

Ino looked offended. "Hey! It has nothing to do with Shikamaru!"

"Oh sure." Sakura grinned. "You would _really_ love to-" She stopped talking as something caught her eyes. Ino banged into her. "What was that for?" She complained, rubbing her nose. Ino noticed what she was looking at. "Is that Sasuke?" She stared.

Sakura was speechless. He was talking to Yura; she kept fluttering her eyelashes and nodding, looking sympathetic. He dismissed her, walking away, while Yura just simpered after him.

Ino waved a hand in front of Sakura. "Anyone there?" She asked, looking at Sakura's expression. Sakura finally snapped back to reality. She felt confused, why would Sasuke be talking to Yura now? At all, really?

lxl

When Sakura's after school classes were over, Naruto come running up to her with a goofy grin on his face. To her mild surprise and joy, her father had finally relented to having Naruto working as an assistant at his convenience store. After telling her the news, he informed her that Soichiro wanted to meet her at his store.

She ran all the way, worried that her father might be sick or something. "Otousan!" She slid the door open, and was surprised that her father is sipping his sake calmly, giving her warm smile. "Sit down, Sakura, I have something to tell you."

Sakura sat down quietly, puzzled.

"We're moving out of the Uchiha household." Soichiro explained, never beating around the bush. "Our house has finally been completed!" He then smiled. "Isn't it great?" He half hoped his daughter would smile and jump up with joy, but he wasn't surprised either when she simply sat there, looking dumbfounded. "W-We're moving _out_?"

Her father nodded and patted her on the head, his fatherly instincts kicking in. "You should forget about Sasuke-san…I don't want you to suffer because of him. He's causing you pain, isn't he?"

Sakura didn't reply, but sat there, thinking to herself.

lxl

Mikoto was very upset when she heard the news. Fugaku comforted her by patting her on the shoulder (he was never very open about his feelings). Sasuke was surprised when he heard this. Itachi just looked pissed. Mikoto wiped her tears with her embroidered lace handkerchief.

Sakura bowed. "It's been fun staying here with you. My father and I really enjoyed it. Thank you so much." She said with a brave smile on her face. She was doing her best to smile. Her heart was weeping. Soichiro bowed with her. Mikoto cried even harder.

Sakura ran to her room to pack her things. Before she got to her room, however, Sasuke grabbed her shoulder. "Is this true?"

Sakura blinked. "What?"

"You moving out." He sounded exasperated.

Sakura lowered her head, so he won't see the tears. "Yes." She replied quietly. Sasuke let her go. "My life can finally be normal again." Sasuke sighed with relief.

"I have to pack… please excuse me…" Sakura's voice trailed off, her voice shaking. Sasuke turned around and headed for his room, Sakura had tears in her eyes.

When she was packing, she came across the pictures Mikoto had taken of Sasuke and her. The tears were finally released.

Soichiro and Sakura bowed once again at the Uchihas with thankfulness. Sakura also apologized for all the trouble she caused in the Uchiha Household (a broken pot here, an antique chair there…) Mikoto burst into tears and lunged at Sakura, hugged her tightly; Fugaku pulled her back, looking embarrassed.

"Soichiro, come back next time for a visit!" Fugaku said, smiling. Sakura's father nodded in agreement. Sakura then turned to Sasuke, and bowed at him. "I'm sorry for all the bother I've caused you..."

Sasuke looked down at her. "Bye." He said flatly, and turned to leave. Mikoto was shocked at his behavior. Sakura bit her lip but said nothing, shaking her head when Mikoto offered to go and scold Sasuke.

Their car arrived, and the two of them said goodbye. Mikoto sniffed loudly. When the car was out of sight, she moved silently into the house. Itachi shrugged, and looked at the retreating form of his brother, slightly more hunched and sullen than usual. Itachi smirked.

"Dinner." Sasuke's voice was heard from living room. Mikoto rounded up on Sasuke and started blaming him for Sakura's absence.

"You should have told her to stay!" She cried, her eyes still red.

"It's not my problem if she wants to move out!" He defended himself.

"How can you treat a girl you love like this!"

"This is the 55th time mother! I **do not** love her! She means _nothing_ to me! Nothing except a bother and a nuisance!" His voice rose; he'd had enough.

"How dare you speak to your mother in that tone?" Fugaku thundered, slapping his chopstick down.

Sasuke was about to protest, but was dragged to the table by Itachi.  
"Don't raise your voice at mother. And certainly don't argue with her. You'll always lose; her logic does not resemble our logic." He said in a monotone.

When dinner was finished, they all realized how empty the house had become, without the constant crashing of Sakura's clumsiness, the apology for breaking it, the cursing when the pain came back, then the apology for cursing.

lxl

"I moved out from the Uchihas." Sakura suddenly told her friends, drinking her milk in sad little slurps. Ino choked through her coke. Tenten had to cover her mouth in case the food flew out of her mouth. Hinata pushed her index fingers together, afraid that Ino or Tenten were going to make a scene.

"Why?" Ino asked immediately, not caring that her coke had made an ungraceful splash on Sakura's face.

"Because my house has been completed." Sakura said, rather disgusted as she wiped her face clean with a tissue.

Ino sighed in disappointment. "Aww… That's so sad, and an utter letdown. I was hoping to see more of your soap opera life!"

Sakura glared. "I can't help it… I think I should give up on him…" She sighed, ignoring Inner Sakura's protests.

"You can't give up now, it's too late! What about the kiss!" Ino demanded. Sakura sighed, shaking her head.

While they were walking around the school, she heard people whispering about her, giving her weird looks. Sakura groaned. "What now?" Naruto came running up to her. "Sakura-chan! Let me tell you great news!"

Sakura eyed him suspiciously.

They reached the school notice board and were shocked at what she just saw. It turned out Naruto had put on a notice saying Sakura had given up on Uchiha Sasuke. She looked mad. "Why did you do that?" She snapped embarrassment and anger rushing through her. Never mind that she herself had decided a few moments ago to give up on him.

"Isn't it true?" Naruto said defensively. "You moved out of their house!" Ino clasped a hand over Naruto's mouth, hissing at him to shut up.

"What if he sees this?" Sakura groaned, glaring at Naruto. He laughed and pointed behind her, to her horror, Sasuke was right behind her. She was horrified. "S-Sasuke-kun! This isn't my fault!" Sakura noticed Yura was next to Sasuke. The witch laughed.

"Thank you, Sakura-_san_, he's so relieved you're giving up on him." She touched Sasuke on the shoulder. Sasuke jerked his shoulders away in irritation. Sasuke didn't seem to care at all and left. Leaving a sad and humiliated Sakura behind.

"He is _so_ arrogant." Ino commented beside her. "Maybe we'll just go and kick his ass, no one-" She stopped when saw the tears in her friend's eyes. Ino sighed in understanding and gave her a brief, but tight hug. "Neh…Sakura, don't think about it too much. It's best if you forget about him." Sakura said nothing and made her way sadly back to class, shoulders slumped.

lxl

When last period P.E time came around, Sakura found herself Sasuke's partner in tennis. Terrified, she looked around for a way out.

"Wait! Gai-sensei, I can be Naruto's partner!" Sakura spluttered and pointed at Naruto, who looked very happy and blew a kiss at her. She cringed, trying very hard not to show it.

But the Sports captain patted her on the shoulder. "It matches! Pink with blue!" Sakura blinked. "_What_? Pink? Oh…" She realized he was talking about her hair. She blushed, looking offended. "It's not my fault my hair is pink! I wanted to dye it black!"

Sasuke looked impatient. "Look, just dodge and leave the hitting to me. People as clumsy as you do not have hand-eye coordination." His cutting remark stung Sakura.

"But this is a double match! We're a team!" She protested. Sasuke snorted. "Like you can hit _any_ of them back!" Sakura crossed her arms. "I can! And I'll show you!"

The team opposite them started to complain.

"Oi! Stop arguing like a married couple!" One of the guys shouted, leering suggestively at her legs, exposed by the mini shorts of the girls' P.E uniform.

Sasuke's frown hardened, and he settled into his 'attack' position.

The other guy held up the neon green tennis ball, threw it into the air and served.

Sakura had just about one millisecond to register the green blur that was aimed at her. The ball smashed into her knee, making her cry out in protest. "Hey! What was that for!" She yelled, crouching down and rubbing her knees while glaring at the offending ball. Sasuke smirked. "Told you." She didn't dignify that with an answer; she simply stood back up.

lxl

Unbeknownst to them, Mikoto had slipped into the school incognito. She wore a shawl around her hair, and wore sunglasses. She crept about the gate and walked through, searching for Sakura.

"Excuse me, but do you know Haruno Sakura?" She asked a male student that was passing by.

"Haruno… oh! Yea, I know her, I mean, who doesn't? She's the one who 'broke up' with that Uchiha Sasuke." He laughed.

"They did not break up! Bunch of lies, don't always believe what you hear, you understand!" She flared back. The guy took a step back.

"Well… if you're looking for her, I hear that she's at the tennis court, playing a double match with Uchiha." The student edged away nervously. This woman was freaking him out.

Mikoto said her thanks and dashed off to the tennis courts, where she clung onto the wire mesh. She took off her sunglasses and watched with teary eyes at Sakura being yelled at by her son. 'Oh, how I have missed you, Sakura!' she thought (it was actually just a few days).

"Hey, isn't that –"

"It's Sasuke's mother!"

Mikoto turned around to face two girls, one with long platinum blonde hair, tied back in a domed chignon. The other was a brunette, with her brown hair tied in two little Chinese buns on her head.

"You are…?" Mikoto questioned.

"Oh, we're Sakura's friends." The brunette replied.

"This is Tenten," The blonde introduced, "and I'm Yamanaka Ino."

"Oh, Sakura's told me about you guys! I'm so glad we finally meet."

"And Sakura's told us about you too, Uchiha-san, you sound like a great person." Mikoto blushed.

"So… how has Sakura been these days?" She asked carefully. Ino and Tenten exchanged glances.

"Well, she hasn't been that well, but she's coping. She always does." Ino replied, smiling at her friend's courage.

"Yeah," Tenten added, "She's still quite hung up about Sasuke-san. I mean, she's seriously thinking of giving up on him! But we know she won't, because she still has hope over that kiss they had."

Mikoto's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. Tenten slapped her hand over her mouth. "Oh, shit! I wasn't supposed to say that!"

But the damage has been done. Mikoto flew away to cloud nine and refused to come down. She walked on air; she could almost sing. After thanking Tenten for her help, even though the Chinese girl looked terrified, Mikoto walked back to her house, humming a tune and dialing her contractor's company.

lxl

Meanwhile, back at the tennis court, Sakura was finding out exactly _why_ Sasuke had every right to be smug. He was _awesome_ at tennis. Every ball that came his way was slammed back with a vengeance.

But the opposite team was also good; Sakura made no moves except to duck and dodge, often tripping over her own feet. However, the team knew she was the weak spot, so they continued to hit the ball at her whenever it was possible. One ball that managed to escape Sasuke's racquet thwacked her hard on her arm. She yelped, earning another impatient glare from Sasuke. He blinked the sweat from his eyes, refusing to ask if she was okay.

The score stood equal. Both teams glared at each other, all unwilling to back down. Sakura felt guilty; Sasuke, even with the odds against him, managed to keep their score up, while she did nothing except run away.

The team served; Sasuke lunged in front of her and belted the ball back; Sakura feinted to the side, and the guy who leered at her before swatted the ball at her. But Sasuke already knew what she was doing, and what the other guy was going to do; he pulverized the ball right across.

The other guy flailed for a second, but managed to hit it back. Sasuke was too far away; the ball was coming right at her face. While it would have been a 'deer in headlights' situation, her instincts kicked in at the last second.

In slow motion, we see the green flash, aiming right for our pink-haired heroine's shocked features. Then she raised her racquet in front of her face, to defend herself with, her eyes squeezed shut, waiting for the impact. The ball bounced right back at the other team, but the impact threw Sakura, who already had poor balance, back and she crashed to the ground, injuring her ankle.

Sasuke looked down at her; surprised she could even hit at least_ one_ ball back. "Good job." He mumbled under his breath, smiling crookedly. Sakura, despite the throbbing pain in her left ankle, smiled; Sasuke finally said something good about her.

They won the game, through a narrow miss. The other team wasn't very happy; they challenged Sasuke to another match. Sakura tried to stand up, but yelped in pain. Sasuke immediately knelt down beside her.

"What's happening?" Gai-sensei asked, coming over to look at the last couple on the tennis court.

"She's injured. I'll have to take her home." Sasuke said, examining her ankle, turning it around. Sakura yelled in pain. "You want to kill me?" She protested.

"Actually, yes." He said in a flat voice. Sakura was actually a bit worried until she saw his lips twitching.

Sakura couldn't believe him. "You- _What are you doing_?" She started yelling in embarrassment; he had picked her up, bridal style. The whole court stared at them, while Yura and the others ground their teeth so hard their gums protested.

"Look, you cannot stay here if you're injured, it will bring me trouble." Sasuke explained, walking towards the school gate.

"No! I'm fine! Just _put me down_." Sakura protested, turning red.

"Stop being so annoying, woman. You should be a bit more grateful." Sasuke ordered.

"Where are you taking me?"

"Your house, obviously." Sasuke said in a-matter-of-fact tone.

"You don't know where my house is!"

"That's why you have to show me."

"Oh…"

lxl

Sasuke carried her easily, walking steadily while she pointed the directions. She blushed right up to the roots of her pink hair; being carried by Uchiha Sasuke was one of her dreams. Too bad he had an annoyed look on his face, because people were pointing and muttering.

"Um, it's my house, right there. No! Not that one, the other one!" Sasuke carried her over to the doorstep.

"Dad?" She called, knocking on the door; she didn't have her keys yet. Sasuke stood beside her, impatient. An old man of around 70 answered the door. Quite obviously, it was not her father.

"What the! Who are you!" She shrieked, jumping back before remembering her leg. She yelped.

"I live 'ere, now, missy. So you go runnin' along and leave this old man 'is peace." He drawled, bending down and holding a staff for support.

"But, but but!" She protested.

"Sakura. Just go and call your father." Sasuke cut in. He glared at her, as if daring her to waste anymore of his time. She relented, and after apologizing to the Ojii-san, she went to a payphone.

Her father's cellphone was off.

Sakura could tell that Sasuke was getting _extremely_ annoyed.

"I'll take you to my house. Come on." He said abruptly, and she obediently followed, hopping on one leg until he snorted in annoyance (or amusement) and lifted her up again.

lxl

Mikoto was jumping up with joy when she saw Sakura, not missing the fact that Sasuke was carrying her. The Evil Cogs worked even more furiously than before, going into overdrive.

"Um, sorry to disturb you…" Sakura apologized, when Sasuke put her down on the couch. Mikoto laughed heartily. "Don't have to apologize! We're a family! I mean you're going to be my daughter-in-law anyway, isn't it-" She stopped when she caught her son glaring daggers at her.

Sakura scooted away. "I just sprained my ankle, I can't contact my father and there's an Ojii-san staying at my place! He kept saying our apartment is his! I'm really sorry, can I just stay for a while until my father gets back?"

Mikoto grinned. "Of course you can! You can stay forever if you like-"

Sasuke coughed, interrupting her. She cleared her throat. "Itachi go get some water and ice. Don't forget a bag!" She told her eldest son who was watching TV; he nodded and walked off to the kitchen with his usual glide.

"Ma'am, the blueprints of the house, where are they again?" A man in a suit addressed Mikoto. Sakura blinked. What the?

"Oh, sorry, here they are. I'm thinking of putting a spare storage room here, and of course, another main bedroom here-" Mikoto winked at Sakura. The girl's confusion grew deeper. She could tell that Sasuke was rather puzzled by the man's presence as well.

"A baby's nursery leading to that, with an added bathroom." Mikoto finished.

"Mother, what are you doing?" Sasuke asked in a dangerously low voice. Mikoto tried to look innocent.

"Who, me? I'm just renovating the house so Sakura-chan and Soichiro-kun can live with us again!" She cried cheerfully.

"WHAT?" Both Sakura's shout and Sasuke's oncoming tirade was cut short by Itachi walking through the doorway and tending to Sakura's ankle. She thanked him, still dazed by the fact that Mikoto wanted her to live with them again. Sasuke looked even more irritated at Sakura's blush.

"Oh and we _must_ have another walk-in closet here!" Mikoto gushed, going all dreamy.

"_Mother._" Sasuke snarled through gritted teeth, "Why. Are. They. Moving. Back. With. Us?" Each word was bitten off with ferocity.

Mikoto snapped back to reality. "Sorry." She started, but the phone rang and demanded to be answered. To Sakura's surprise and happiness, it was her father. Sakura apologized to him for being so careless, and winced when he scolded at her through the phone. Sakura then handed the phone to Mikoto, and the two adults talked for a while.

After five minutes, she put the phone down and smiled at Sakura. The rosette was worried about her father. "What did he say, Mikoto-san?" The raven-haired woman patted her shoulder. "Your father said he has some business that he absolutely has to tend to tonight." Sakura was afraid what was coming next…

"I suggested you should stay at our house tonight." She said, with undisguised delight. Sasuke looked ready to kill. Itachi smirked, hiding his snicker behind a cough. Sasuke felt like throttling the air.

"Uh…that's okay, I'll just go and stay at my friend's house for the night." Sakura said, bowing, trying to stand up, but cried out in pain and fell back to the couch again. Mikoto looked worried.

"You shouldn't move Sakura! Your ankle is in a bad condition!" Sakura forced a small smile. "It's okay…my ankle is fine." Sasuke snorted in disbelief. "You just _sprained _your ankle. It can't be fine." Mikoto nodded in agreement.

Sasuke slapped himself on the forehead; he just gave his mother the reason to make that pink-haired menace stay. Damnit! He thought furiously, what's wrong with me?

Sakura finally sighed in defeat. "Okay, I'll stay." Mikoto wiped her dry tears of happiness away. Sakura glanced around. "Um, do you think I still have my clothes here?" Mikoto beamed.

"Of course! I kept them in your old room!" Sasuke rolled his eyes. She looked relieved and followed Mikoto upstairs. Lady Uchiha tried to talk her youngest son into carrying her again, but he blatantly refused.

lxl

Sakura was in the shower, contemplating the twists and events that had happened that day. She sighed as she sank into the hot bath. I guess I'll never get over Sasuke… She blushed again when she though of his strong arms carrying her.

She got out of the bath, drying herself vigorously until she realized she had forgotten her pajamas. Opening the door a tiny bit, she called out into the hallway. "Mikoto?" She hissed.

Silence.

Sakura sighed; she had no choice but to run to her room to get her clothes. Before she could even reach her room she had her clothes thrown at her. Sakura looked up in surprise, tightening her hold of the towel. She blushed when she saw Sasuke looking away, either in modesty or disgust, she couldn't really tell.

"_I _found those." He then threw a dirty look at her, making her blush more. Just because her pajamas have Hello Kitty on it! He looked bored, and not even remotely bothered that she was wrapped in nothing but a towel. The heat spread further up her cheeks.

"Jesus! Are you two-" Itachi's amused and shocked voice was heard from behind Sakura.

Both of them turned around, Sakura squeaked when she saw him. Sasuke glared at his brother, daring him to mention this to mother. "We're doing _nothing_, Nii-san!"

Itachi ignored him and turned around to admonish Sakura. "Really you two! Wait until you're married!" He put his hand on her naked shoulder, sneaking a glance at Sasuke and waiting for his reaction.

Sakura blushed; Sasuke noticed this and stomped his way to Itachi and Sakura. "What do you think you're doing?" Sasuke yelled, his left eye twitching.

"Jealous?" Itachi drawled, making Sakura blink. Huh? Was her though before Sasuke replied.

"No, I AM NOT jealous, just get your hands OFF HER."

"Alright, alright, no need to get so…" Itachi paused, a wicked smile on his lips, "_worked up._" His older brother smirked and left. Sasuke seethed, glaring at his brother's back. He rounded on Sakura so fast she nearly fell over. "_You_," he snarled, "get back in the bathroom and change." He pushed her back.

"But, Sasuke-" She began to protest.

_Slam_.

That night, both of them had very hard time sleeping. Mikoto dreamed on, oblivious to what went on outside her room. Itachi almost laughed himself to sleep.

**_To be continued…_**

lxl

**Authoress's Note: **Um, not bad? Please review! See you all in chapter five!


	5. Jealousy

**She will be Loved**

**Authoress's Notes: **Thanks so much for the reviews! Itachi is evil isn't he? Ohohoho! Yep, this fic _is _AU after all! –evil laugh- He's so adorable, isn't he? Sorry about the late update! Sorry… o.o

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto…

**Co-writer **Earthborne

--" Nothing really exciting happens here, I suppose, but next chap will be better!

Chapter five: Jealousy

lxl

The bell rang; Sakura jumped up from her seat immediately, thankful that class had ended. She quickly skipped out of math class before Kurenai-sensei could call her back.

"Sakura-san!" She stopped walking when she heard her name being called. She lazily turned her head around. Her green eyes widened when she saw the person standing behind her, grinning sheepishly.

"Hello!" She greeted politely, squinting slightly to observe the person before her. "Um… you are?" Wild dark hair, black eyes, sporty-looking, she remembered seeing him somewhere before. She eyed him up and down. "I'm Inuzuka Kiba." He explained, blushing furiously under her scrutiny. Sakura then smiled, remembering that he was the captain of nearly all of their sporting clubs. She held a hand out. "Nice to meet you."

He took her hand hesitantly and cleared his throat. "Sakura-san, will you please go out with me?" Sakura was shocked speechless to hear that question, barely a few days after Naruto had asked her. The books in her arms had slipped out of her limp grasp, falling to the ground. At first she thought he was joking. She forced a wavering smile.

"Ahaha..." She faked a laugh and bent down to pick up the books she dropped. "I have to go… my friends are waiting for me." She said quickly, avoiding his eyes when he squatted down also to help her.

"I'm not joking!" Kiba insisted, looking very seriously into her eyes. Sakura blushed. Why would a cute guy like him ask her out? "I heard about you and Uchiha-san."

Sakura blinked, feeling her cheeks going redder. "You two aren't going out am I right?" He continued, "So that makes you available! I can still ask you out, can't I?" He said, grinning. "I'll be seeing you soon, Sakura-san, I don't expect your answer so quickly. See ya!" He waved and ran off to meet his friend that was leaning on the doorjamb, waiting for him. Sakura absently noted that the guy was strange, wearing sunglasses indoors. Sakura stood there, looking stoned.

"Stop pushing-"

"You are making me falling over! Oi-"

"Ino! Stop it-Oh no! She's looking this way!"

Sakura quickly turned her head towards the noise. She was embarrassed to see her friends eavesdropping. "You two!" She said accusingly, glad that Hinata was not there; she was probably in the library reading some romantic novels. "What do you think you're _doing_?" Her face was red as an apple, as she tried to sound furious.

"Walking." Ino replied innocently.

"Going to the bathroom." Tenten replied unconvincingly.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. Tenten and Ino exchanged looks. The pink haired girl folded her arms. "It's not very nice to eavesdrop…" She intoned.

Ino ignored her then smiled slyly. "Wow, that guy is crazy." Tenten nodded in agreement. Sakura raised her other eyebrow. "Why is that?" She asked suspiciously.

"He asked you out!" Ino gushed. Sakura glared. Tenten patted Sakura on the shoulder. "I reckon you should say yes!"

Sakura gawked at her friend, hard. "Are you crazy? I like someone else!" Her friend rolled her eyes. "Yes I know, forehead girl. I meant, to make Sasuke jealous and all that!"

"Why, I don't think – Oh…" Sakura glanced at her two friends, who were grinning broadly. And gave her a big thumbs-up. She had a feeling that this was what peer pressure was really like.

_At the Uchiha household that night…_

Mikoto choked on her tea. "_What_!" She stood up so quickly that the chair she was sitting on fell back with a loud _thunk_. She cared less. She marched over to the frozen Sakura and grabbed her hand. "You didn't say yes did you?" She demanded, fearful.

"Um no…" Sakura replied slowly, stealing a glance at Sasuke, who was looking very bored. Mikoto sighed with relief.

"But I said I'll think about it…" Sakura added. Mikoto jumped, gasping in horror while Sasuke's eyebrows did a dip, and he turned his head to look at her.

"Why did you say that?" Mikoto wailed like a 5-year old. Itachi snickered, watching his brother's reaction to the girl. Mikoto turned and glared at him, and he held his hand up as if in surrender, and went back to watching the television. Soichiro was unimpressed. "Why would he ask you?" Sakura shrugged, somewhat offended, taking a bite on her biscuit. Sasuke suddenly stood up, a fierce scowl on his handsome features.

"Sasu-chan, where are you going?" Mikoto asked, not noticing the way her son's eye twitched at the nickname.

"My room obviously." Sasuke said, in a very low, tight voice. Mikoto flinched. Then her eyes sparkled as she watched her son go upstairs. "Sakura!" She screeched, making a grab for the girl's hand again.

"I have an idea!" Sakura's eyes widened in fearful trepidation. "Please say yes to him!" Mikoto squealed like a teenager, jumping up and down, barely suppressing her excitement.

"Um… to Inuzuka-san?" Sakura stuttered. Mikoto nodded madly. "Make Sasuke jealous!" She declared, hugging herself, making gushing noises, as if she was writing her own soap opera.

Sakura stared. Why does she have the same thoughts as my friends? Is there some kind of universal plot that I'm missing out on? She wondered. Without knowing, she nodded. Deep inside her, she felt a little excited. Sasuke didn't seem like he cared, but on the other hand, when Tenten and Ino had told Naruto what happened, he was horrified beyond description. He had clenched his fist and wailed to high heaven that he wouldn't give his Sakura away to that 'punk'.

lxl

The next day, Sakura went all over school campus asking for Kiba. Finally, several students pointed her towards one of the small convenience stores.

Sakura walked towards the shop, steeling her resolve. She tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around, and when he saw her, he grinned. "Sakura-san! Sit down!" He patted the seat next to him. Sakura smiled and sat down, and she noticed that Kiba's friend from before, the Sunglasses guy, was staring at her in a strange way.

"I work at this place after school, hoping I'd get enough money to get an apartment that allows me to have pets." Kiba started, looking dreamy. Sakura nodded slowly, raising her eyebrow slightly.

"Sometimes I notice you and Uchiha-san go into the shop… Date?" Sakura blushed and shook her head. "No! It's nothing like that! We were told to buy some stuff for the family…" Kiba grinned. "Alright, you know how Uchiha-san is really popular? Yes, and you were with him so I started to notice you more. I like your determination… I mean Uchiha-san treats you pretty bad, and you yet you never give up. I even like your clumsiness, I think it's very down-to-earth." He smiled, making Sakura blush.

"What…are…you…doing…with…my…_woman_?" A horrible voice thundered behind them. Sakura jumped, startled. Kiba raised his dark eyebrows. "Since when did she become yours?" He replied hotly.

"Since forever!" Naruto stated proudly. Sakura coughed. "I'm not your girlfriend Naruto, you don't have to be so over-protective."

Naruto looked crestfallen again, his face crumpling into disappointment. Shaking her head, she stepped away from them. "I need to get changed… I have PE next…" She mumbled an excuse, getting away from the two men having a growling match behind her.

lxl

Yura flipped her hair behind her shoulders. "I _heard_ Kiba-kun asked you out…" She turned her gaze towards said person walking towards them. Kiba waved and grinned. Sakura weakly waved back, then turned back to glare at the Evil President. "Your point?"

"I want to tell you that he asked you out because he felt sorry for you… I mean, being dumped by Sasuke-kun…" She simpered. Sakura hated every minute of this. Kiba looked offended, about to protest that his feelings were sincere, but Sakura beat him to it. Shaking in rage, she snapped at Yura "Look, he _didn't_ dump me! We were never together!"

Yura raised her nicely drawn eyebrow. "Oh? Well- Oh Sasuke-kun!" Her voice suddenly turning so sugary Sakura was getting cavities. Yura waved madly at Sasuke's direction, and he turned, scowled and marched over.

Kiba could feel Sakura getting tense beside him. "Hurry up Yura, the game is starting." He didn't even look at Sakura; instead, he let his arm get clung onto by Yura. When he didn't even try to shake her off, she snuggled closer to him. Sakura was getting pissed. "Inuzuka-san! Why don't we go to the movies on Sunday?" Sakura stated loudly, making everyone stop what he or she was doing.

Kiba's eyes sparkled. "Really? You agreed! Of course!" He beamed widely, pumping his fist in the air. Sasuke froze, and Yura was jerked back. He tried to smirk. "Oh good, I'm so glad you got off my back. You two are made for each other, like dumb and dumber." He sneered. Sakura was furious, "At least he's not a cold-blooded snake like you! At least he's kind and he actually _cares_!"

Kiba was happy, not caring that they were having a fight. "I'm glad Sakura-san has a good impression of me!" He turned to Sasuke, suddenly very polite and formal, until Sakura realized he was mocking Sasuke. "Uchiha-san, is it alright if I take Sakura-chan from you and make her happy?" Sasuke gritted his teeth and looked disgusted. "She's _not_ mine, so don't bother asking." He replied in a scathing tone. Sakura felt tears stinging her eyes, she swallowed the lump in her throat, and made a grab for Kiba's arm, "Let's go…" She whispered, leaving a happy Yura and a darkly emotionless Sasuke.

Ino, who had been eavesdropping again, cheered and glanced at Sasuke, who looked even angrier. She grinned knowingly.

"You know Sasuke, if you don't take her soon, some other guy really will…" Her falsely sympathetic voice trailed off. Sasuke's eyes looked darker than usual, as he roughly pushed pass Ino, dragging Yura. But the blonde girl didn't react, to Tenten's biggest surprise (Usually she would be biting the offender's head off).

Kiba turned and faced Sakura. "Tell me, how long have you liked Uchiha-san for?" Sakura looked embarrassed and thoughtful. "A couple of years." She mumbled, and expected him to look disappointed. To her surprise, he laughed. "I don't expect you to fall for me so quickly, Sakura, so don't worry. I know you like him very much but I hope I can change your mind!" Sakura felt a little relieved inside and genuinely impressed with Kiba's gentlemanly behavior, so unlike Sasuke. Maybe I'll really get over him, she thought, even though he looks so nummy in sports gear. _Ahh… He's so gorgeous…_

"…runo…"

"…Haruno…!"

"**Haruno**!" Gai-sensei practically sprayed spit on Sakura's head. She stepped back, looking terrified. "Yes…?" She asked timidly. _Shannaro! I just washed my hair yesterday! _Inner Sakura yelled fiercely.

"Get your tennis bat and hurry up! Your partner is waiting for you!" Gai-sensei said, giving her a good guy pose, teeth shining with victory. Sakura frowned, trying not to shudder. Not to mention his bowl haircut was extremely discomforting. "My…partner?"

Gai gave a strong pat on Sakura's back, nearly dislocating a lung. "Of course your partner!" He grinned brightly. "The genius Uchiha-san!" Sakura's face fell. Sasuke scowled, giving her glares from the other side of the field. She avoided his gaze. "Uh…Does it have to be him?" Gai looked shocked. "Haruno-san! This is the first time in a while that you don't want to be with the genius! Are you alright?" He slapped his hand onto her forehead. She winced. "I'm alright…Oh look there's Inuzuka-san! He has no partner! I'll go with him now!" She ran off quickly before he could say anything.

"Oi! Haruno-" He tried to stop her, but tripped and fell, nearly breaking his head but with his fiercely gelled helmet haircut, he was safe!

lxl

That evening, Sasuke ignored Sakura no matter how much she nagged him into doing things. Like helping her with the English exam, asking him to watch television with her, the list could go down forever. Mikoto watched them happily from the kitchen. Sasuke said nothing but "Shut up" or "No" for the whole night. The pink haired girl finally gave up on her own. Instead, she looked pleadingly at Itachi for help. The Uchiha's oldest son sighed; deciding to help her out, since he was the only person Sasuke couldn't stand up to.

"Sasuke, why don't you go watch TV…" Itachi began, giving Sakura a pointed look. She grinned. "Harry Potter is on." He added brightly. Sasuke threw down his book in disgust. "I don't _watch_ Harry Potter nii-san!" Itachi looked at Sakura again, who gave him another distressed look. He grabbed the remote and turned the channel "Hey! Charmed is on!"

"That's girl stuff." Sasuke huffed. Itachi smirked and shook his head at Sakura; he grabbed his brother's cell phone to show her a picture of Phoebe. Sakura sniggered.

"Oh look! There's Dragon Ball Z!" Itachi exclaimed excitedly.

Sasuke looked up from his book impatiently. "Nii-san, turn off the TV for god's sake! Find something interesting to do rather than sitting there being harassed by her!" He threw a cold look at Sakura. "And I hate Dragon Ball Z thank you very much." He added darkly.

"Hey! I wasn't harassing him!" Sakura protested. The phone rang. Sasuke sneered. "Go and get the phone you arrogant woman. It might be your lovely, so perfect boyfriend."

"When did I say he's _perfect_?" Sakura demanded, she could hear her voice rising. The genius snorted. "Since PE period you simple-minded klutz! No wonder you're so stupid! Get that thought into your thick skull." Itachi's eyes widened, looking around for popcorn. Mikoto looked worriedly into the living room; Itachi shook his head at her and motioned that he had it covered.

"I never said he's _perfect_! If your brain can't remember, I said he's very _kind_ and very _caring_." The pink haired girl was practically yelling now, her vision blurry, as she tried to keep the tears back.

"That's close to being perfect!" Sasuke retorted angrily, albeit irrationally. Itachi had no choice but to get the phone. After a minute, he came back grinning, until he found that the argument had escalated; they were standing in front of each other, still screaming.

"Just because I have a love life and _you_ don't, doesn't mean you have to be _mean_ and _nasty_ to me! Don't you ever care how people feel?" Sakura demanded, her voice shaking, she knew she was crying, the rebellious tears, splashing down her cheeks.

"Not if it comes to you!" Sasuke yelled back. Sakura pushed him hard. "Fine! Be like that!" She cried and ran upstairs. Sasuke glared angrily after her. From the couch, Itachi shook his head. "Tsk, tsk. Jealousy _sure_ is an ugly thing…" He grinned slyly. Sasuke snapped his head around, glaring daggers at his brother, who was still shaking his head. "_If_ you say that again…" Sasuke's eyes were filled with dark promises of pain, but Itachi knew it was all empty threats.

"You'll do what?" Itachi immediately countered, suddenly very serious. He was normally okay to get along with, he liked to tease his brother mercilessly, but he hated girls crying, so he is showing his true self to his brother – colder, harder, _crueler_ than Sasuke would ever be.

"I'm not _jealous_ for your information!" Sasuke said, but he wasn't shouting anymore, he couldn't even look at Itachi, he was staring at the ground, uncharacteristically cowed underneath his brother's cold glare. He knew it was extremely unwise to cross his brother when he was in his serious mode.

"Actually, I'm quite well informed, and I _know_ that you _are_ jealous!" Itachi said wisely. "There's no mistake to that…I have never seen you overreacting over a girl before, over anyone, actually… I mean you're not even interested in them. Sometimes I wonder if you're gay…" Itachi said wistfully, back into his usual plotting self.

"Hey!" Sasuke protested, glaring at his brother indignantly.

Itachi cleared his throat. "But I thought wrong. You're not…definitely…" He let the sentence hang. Sasuke kept silent, instead, he sat down beside Itachi. "I don't like her, aniki, she's much too annoying."

"You never know." Itachi took a big sip of water. He turned and looked at him. "Tell me, why _were_ you angry back then? That's not like you, Sasuke, not like an Uchiha to be angry and make women cry."

"I wasn't angry…" Sasuke denied. Itachi frowned and poked his brother on the forehead.

"You **were**! I should have filmed it! I'm so stupid…" Itachi slapped his forehead, exasperated. "Let me tell you the answers, dear foolish brother. You are jealous because she's going out with some guy you don't even know." Sasuke looked at him with a bewildered look, still rubbing the sore spot on his brow. "How did…"

"Yamanaka-san told me… of course." Itachi replied. "Oh the phone." He added when he saw Sasuke's puzzled look again. "Five hundred yen for a one minute talk…" He mumbled, not very pleased, but unable to resist. Sasuke stared.

Itachi coughed. "The guy likes her, so what? **She** likes **you**! That's what counts!" Sasuke stood up. "Look, I'm not talking to you about this anymore…because I have no feelings for her whatsoever. And it's stupid, embarrassing, not to mention weird. Leave me alone." He stalked away.

"Fine…Let her first kiss be Inuzuka-_kun_'_s_…" Itachi put his hands behind his head and leaned back lazily.

Sasuke halted and turned around with an unbelievable look. "The first kiss was me, actually." He stated, almost smugly. Itachi shook his head again. "Yes, _but_ that wasn't a real kiss was it? The kiss had no feelings." He sighed sadly, stealing a glance at Sasuke. His younger brother's left eye twitched. "I'm going. And tell mom I'm not free on Sunday so she can't drag me to that stupid show."

Itachi looked surprised. "Where are you going?"

"Out with Yura."

"_Yura_? Where did this come from? Why are you on a date with that imbecile when you've got Sakura?" Itachi could not believe this.

"I'm not 'on a date' with anyone!" Sasuke answered hotly, stomping his way upstairs. He could hear his brother yelling something. "You are not my brother! I'm disowning you!"

Too frustrated to explain it to his brother, he marched into his room.

Slamming the door behind him, he sat down on his bed, inhaling deeply. He noticed an English notebook lying beside him. A big _Haruno Sakura_ was written on the cover of the textbook. Sasuke frowned, debating whether he should give it back or just leave it. He decided to give it back, against his better judgement. He stalked over to her bedroom, disgusted to find a pink nameplate with '_Sakura'_ written in fancy letters. He knocked on the door with a sharp, smart rap of his knuckles.

No answer.

He knocked again.

Still no answer… A vein popped inside Sasuke. He was losing his patience. Taking a step backwards, he cursed and walked away from the door until he heard a _thud_ in the bedroom. Sasuke halted, glancing back, he knew he was worrying, and it angered him, but he had no choice. He walked back and twisted the doorknob, swinging the door open. There was Sakura lying on the ground, rubbing her back painfully, a worn-out looking Walkman lying beside her. "Oww…Stupid chair…" She stopped when she saw Sasuke by the door. Her expression was unreadable.

"What are you doing here?" She finally shrieked. Sasuke winced at the volume. "I knocked a couple of times you know."

"Oh…Sorry, I was listening to music." She held up her half-dead Walkman. Sasuke threw the thick textbook on her bed. "It was in my room." He explained. Sakura blinked. "No wonder I couldn't find it… Thanks." She grinned sheepishly. Sasuke tried his best to look mean but he knew it wasn't working. Sakura rose from the ground, still rubbing her back. "I'll kill the chair…" She mumbled to herself. She glanced at him. "Aren't you going to ask me if I'm alright?"

"No." He replied flatly. Sakura looked disappointed. He turned to leave. But her voice stopped him. "Are…you angry at me?" She asked, nervous. He turned around to look at her. "Why should I be?"

"Inuzuka-kun…" She said quietly, biting her lips.

"You call him _kun_ now?" Sasuke sneered; Sakura wilted underneath his scathing, furious glare. "Well I wouldn't give a shit about who you date or who you love. It's none of my business anyway. I hear his family are dog breeders, and they're all dog-obsessed, so I'm not surprised he asked you out." He spat out the words like some kind of disease.

Sakura couldn't believe the insinuation in his sentence, like a slap in the face. Blinking her tears away, she lowered her head. "Fine, if you don't care. I don't care either." With that, she pushed him out of her bedroom, slamming the door in his face. Sakura leaned by the door and covered her face with her hands, crying. She hated this, she hated the way he was treating her. Throwing the textbook at the wall, she flopped onto the bed and sobbed pitifully. She could hear Mikoto's loud shriek outside the door…

lxl

Sakura waited in front of the school for a couple of minutes; she could see a dim figure running towards her direction. Kiba grinned and yelled. "Am I late?" The pink haired girl shook her head. "No, I only waited for…a few minutes." She said sheepishly. Glancing at him, she secretly admitted he looked really good today.

His dark hair was spiked up, and he was wearing camouflage-print baggy shorts with a gray hoodie. In fact, after looking him over again, she decided he looked _really_ good today. _Not as good as Sasuke_ she thought, and immediately gave herself a mental slap; she _would not_ think about Sasuke today, she was here to have a good time with Kiba! She smiled at him, and he grinned back boyishly.

"Ready to go, Sakura-san?"

"Just Sakura would be fine." She said firmly, and he looked surprised, but grinned again. "Sure."

_**To be continued…**_

lxl

**Authoress's Notes: **o.o Is it actually okay? Me bad for updating late…Sorry! I didn't mean to… Please review! Love you guys. Again I'm sorry for the lateness… Please review…


	6. Coincidence?

She will be Loved 

**Authoress's Note: **Hi! Welcome to chapter six! Ahem anyway, it's finally the holidays, so happy xD My piano grade 8 exam is coming up… T.T Sadly… Dreading 28th June! O.O me scared XD wish me luck! Rawr! SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE!

Thanks for the huge reviews in the last chapter! I'm forever grateful! People you're so great xD Sasuke is getting jealous, awww, so cute! Itachi is cute as usual… -evil grin- I adore him he he. School is starting Anime club, kind of stupid, you sit in the room all lunchtime to watch anime… o.o Right, on with the chappie…

Fic based on the manga Mischievous Kiss.

**Disclaimer: **Do not own Naruto… o.o

**Co-writer:** Earthborne. Ph34r M3h

This one is at fault for the lateness of this chapter. That is, for not telling Cherry to get off her lazy arse and write the chap. And I let the chap brood for a bit in the computer. I read some of the reviews, and I can say that I am actually a rabid SasuNaru fan. Don't ask me why I'm here. (Only in devotion to readers and Cherry of course).

SasuNaru pwns you all. (Watches Cherry foam and froth at the mouth)

**Authoress: **OI THAT'S MEAN! Ignore her people T.T

Chapter six: Coincidence?

lxl

Sasuke groaned as he pushed pass the squealing Yura, her make up at least an inch thick, pouting at him. She was wearing a mini-skirt so short it bordered on pornography. Sasuke eyed her in undisguised disgust. Her top was so tight, so tiny, she might as well have worn a bra, which she wasn't. He turned away, making an attempt to cross the road. Several high school girls went pass him, giggling as they went. "Ooh! He's so cute!" One of them said quietly, nudging her friend beside her.

Girl number two nodded with agreement, eyes sparkling. "What school is he from I wonder?"

"I don't care! I want him!" Girl number one squealed. Sasuke kept on walking, his hands in his pockets, he didn't even bother pushing Yura away, even though she was clasping onto his arm with a grip that was cutting off his circulation.

"Ew, is that his girlfriend? She's disgusting." Girl number one said again; finally noticing that there was a person/whore standing next to him.

Girl number two nodded, pushing up her glasses with a look of incredulity at Yura's clothes, or rather, lack of them. Yura unfortunately heard, flashing her eyes dangerously at them. The two girls brushed passed them hurriedly. Yura turned back around to coo, "Sasuke-kun, let's go- Eh?" Too bad for her, he wasn't there.

lxl

"That…elephant is just _so_ cute!" Sakura practically shrieked, jumping up and down. Kiba flinched, trying his best not to show it. Sakura's cheeks were flushed with happiness and excitement, she held up her new pink Motorola v3 phone to take a photo of that 'cute elephant'. She squealed as the elephant held up its nose to eat. Kiba chuckled quietly, watching her as she jumped up and down.

"I never thought you liked elephants Sakura." Kiba said with amusement.

Sakura grinned happily, rubbing her hands together. "I just love animals, so fluffy…" She did a bunny dance. (**AN: **My bad, I just really love bunnies, I shriek for ages when I see one… o. O)

"I-"

"Oh look! There's a monkey! Wai, it's SO CUTE!" She bounced off, cutting Kiba off, leaving him red faced - that jump had exposed some of her creamy legs. She was in such a hurry that she didn't notice a person in front of her. Thanks to her clumsiness, both of them crashed to the ground. "Oww…" She complained as she rubbed her head. "I've probably lost a couple of brain cells."

A familiar mocking voice was heard. "Like you had any to start with."

"Hey! That wasn't very nic-" She stared into Sasuke's face, which was arranged in a fierce scowl. "What are you doing _here_?" Sasuke glared at her, shaking the dust off his pants. "Doing my school research."

"Research?" Sakura screeched, Sasuke flinched, covering his ears. "This is the _zoo_!"

"I'm doing my research on monkeys." He replied flatly.

"Hmm, what? You're doing research on yourself?" Sakura gasped, covering her mouth her hand, but the remark had already slipped out; inner Sakura was laughing. Sasuke flashed his dark eyes at her. "_No, _I'm doing it on monkeys, _saru_." Sakura shrugged. "I was just joking, you don't have to look so angry."

"I always look like this." He said dryly, and indeed, his face still had that scowl chiselled on.

"Oh."

"Go off with your _boyfriend_, he's waiting for you." He said sarcastically, making Sakura mad again. "He's not my-"

"-Sasuke-kuuuun!" A loud screeching voice screamed for Sasuke. Both of them covered their ears in pain, and not a few animals howled in reply. Yura made her way to Sasuke, and clasped his arm. "Where _were_ you? I was so worried!" Not noticing Sakura actually existed. The pink hair girl folded her arms angrily. To her surprise, he let her hold onto him. "I'm doing my research as you can see."

Sakura gagged when she noticed Yura's clothing; it was mid autumn and she was wearing the skimpiest outfit Sakura had ever seen anyone wear. Yura pressed her body close to Sasuke. Sakura could feel her temper rising. _What does she think she is? Did she scavenge her clothes from some recycle bin?_

"Sakura!" Kiba ran up to her, Sasuke narrowed his eyes. Sakura smiled. "Oh, sorry, I was just _talking_," she glared, "to them." Yura pouted at Sasuke. "It's getting cold…" she whined, swinging his arm back and forth. Sasuke ignored her. After all, she was the one who decided to parade herself around in those scraps of clothing. Yura checked her pink watch, "Wanna go grab something to eat? I'm starving." She purred, sounding like she had a few hairballs. Sakura looked slightly green. Her temper flared and she made a grab for Kiba's hand. "Let's go…" She mumbled and pulled him away. Sasuke didn't seem to care. "We should go," he muttered, and shook free of Yura, which caused her to stumble and nearly twist her ankle in those purple stilettos of hers.

lxl

Kiba walked Sakura back to her house. Sakura bowed deeply. "Thanks so much for today! I'm really happy." She smiled shyly, looking down. Kiba grinned broadly. "I enjoyed it as much as you did! And thanks for holding my hand…" Sakura blinked. _Holding hands? Oh…_ "Um, no sweat!" She laughed nervously. Without warning her, he kissed her on the forehead. "Bye!" He waved and ran off. She blushed, touching the spot where he kissed her. Pushing the doors open, she stepped inside. No noise seemed to be coming from the house. "I'm home…?"

Silence reigned.

Sakura shrugged. "Oh well…" She slipped off her shoes and hopped into the kitchen. Digging into cupboards trying to find food, she was still hungry after that burger she had at WacDonalds. Finally she found noodles. Turning the boiling water button on, she stared blankly at the table, thinking about what happened today. The front door creaked open. Sakura bounced to her feet, looking scared. The first thing in her mind was a thief. She grabbed for the baseball bat that she saw lying on the ground.

She nearly laughed when she saw Sasuke coming into the living room. "Oh…it's you." She dropped the bat, and went back to the kitchen. Sasuke sneered as he took off his black jacket. "Oh yes, it's me." He walked to the kitchen, where she was busy making noodles. He leaned against the doorframe, the epitome of hotness.

"I didn't think you were going to come back home tonight." He said nastily. Sakura dropped the kettle that she was holding; it crashed to the ground, and the water spilled everywhere, and Sakura had one nanosecond of understanding that boiling water had splashed onto her ankle, before intense pain wiped out all other thought.

She gasped in agony, her throat blocked, not working, and she could hardly utter a sound except a strangled whimper.

"Sakura!" Sasuke ran over to her and quickly carried her to the bathroom; she clutched her hands around his neck and tried to stifle the sobs. He turned on the showerhead and sprayed ice-cold water onto her red ankle. Sakura sniffled. Sasuke sighed. "You have to stop being so clumsy, I won't always be there to clean up, you know." He admonished her gently. His soft tone surprised Sakura; she had expected a scathing remark.

"You could become a doctor." Sakura finally said, looking down. "I mean, you knew how to stop the burn from getting worse."

Sasuke snorted, rolling his eyes. "Everyone knows how to do that!" Sakura was offended, but not really. She didn't believe Sasuke could remain nice. "I didn't know how to do it."

"Because you're stupid." Sasuke said in retort, spraying some of the water on her head. "Hey!" She protested, feeling a little better. "Thanks…" She said quietly, smiling silently to herself. Sasuke avoided her gaze, and she didn't see the faint blush on his cheeks. "Are you ok too? Did the water get you?" She asked, worried.  
"I'm fine. It's yourself that you should be worried about." Sasuke answered, not quite so harshly. He brushed her skirt away so the fabric wouldn't cling to the wound.

"Whoa." Itachi said behind them. Sakura blinked, while Sasuke turned around, annoyed that the moment had been interrupted. "Hello to you too, Nii-san." He said sarcastically. Itachi grinned. "I told you guys to leave it till the wedding night! But young people, so _eager_…" Sasuke snorted. "She was simply stupid enough to burn her own ankle, alright?" Sakura gave protests: it was him that caused her to drop the kettle in the first place!

"Oh, so…o," Itachi dragged the word out, "helping her then?" The older Uchiha questioned innocently. Sasuke glared. "What? Can't I do that? I don't want mother chasing after me for this." Itachi narrowed his eyes. "Uh…Huh…" He raised his eyebrows slightly. His younger brother pushed passed him, giving him a final glare. Itachi gave the pink haired girl a conspiring wink, then "Sakura, Why don't I carry you to _my_ room? I have some medical equipment there." Sakura blinked.

"Eh…?"

Sasuke halted, his eyebrow twitched. "Nii-san, I think she can _walk_. Not to mention that it is _inappropriate_."

"Oh, but she is hurt, isn't she? And besides, I will _never_ dream of conducting _inappropriate_ things with her." Itachi clasped a hand to his chest, closed his eyes and looked for all in the world like a saint, complete with shining halo. Sakura blushed. "Um, I'm fine Itachi-san…"

"People always say they are fine! But they're simply trying to hide their true feelings…" His voice trailed off, and he cracked open an eye to spy on the stiffened form of his brother. Sasuke turned around, stomped to Sakura, and grabbed her by her arm. "I'll do it." He said through gritted teeth, and hefted Sakura up like she weighed nothing. Behind them, Itachi was smirking in a very catty way. Hopefully, both teenagers caught the meaning in his last sentence.

lxl

"How was the _date_ of yours, hmm?" Mikoto asked slyly at the dinner table, sneaking a glance at her youngest son. Sasuke's lips twitched into a thin line. Itachi, through sheer force of Iron Uchiha Will, managed to keep a snigger to himself and compose his face into apathy. The family looked at her in interest. Sakura swallowed her food nervously. "Erm, it was…" She glanced at Mikoto who was giving her a hard, eager look.

"…Nice." She finished her sentence. Mikoto looked disappointed, Sakura flashed her a weary smile then stared back down at her half finished meal. Mikoto coughed, "How's yours, Sasuke?"

Sasuke all but slammed his glass of water down. Sakura tried very hard not to stare. He looked tired, and said in monotone, "It wasn't a date. It was research with a partner. But it was 'nice'." Itachi choked on his water. Mikoto wondered what was wrong with them both. They were both brilliant, and yet none of them could come up with a better adjective? Sakura looked down. She continued eating.

Mikoto glanced anxiously at the girl sitting beside her. "Uh… Sakura tell me about your day."

"I went to the zoo, and then the arcade." Sakura said, stoned, stirring her soup. Itachi rolled his eyes. "Ri…ight." He whispered, loud enough for Sasuke to hear. Sakura froze beside Mikoto. Sasuke's grip on his chopsticks was so hard his knuckles turned white, then; snapped his wooden chopsticks into half. Standing up, he murmured, "Excuse me" and stomped upstairs. Lady Uchiha frowned as he slammed his door loudly. The table was as silent as a tomb.

"Jealousy it is…" Mikoto said quietly but gleefully, Phase One of Operation: Make Sasuke Jealous Enough to Admit He Likes Sakura-Chan.

Itachi raised his teacup to his lips. "Poor foolish little brother…" And he nodded knowingly. His mother's eyes shone, sparkling. "Itachi! You must help me with this!" He raised an eyebrow. "I'm not meddling…" He said with dignity, ignoring the fact that he already was.

His mother grabbed his sleeve, teary eyed. "B-But you have to help me!" Itachi sighed and shook her off. "Mother, I have school work to do as well…" He ran upstairs leaving the sad mother sobbing. "…Itachi!" She wailed, like every other useless heroine in almost every movie. The elder Uchiha slammed the door and Sakura admired the builders of the house for making it so sturdy.

Sakura patted Mikoto on the shoulder; she blinked as she heard Sasuke from upstairs. "Sakura, your tuition." The pink haired girl looked up in surprise. "Tuition…?" She murmured to herself, drying her hands, running upstairs. She thought that he would have stopped teaching her after the blackmail material had been returned. She mumbled something to herself as she stepped into her room. She glared at Sasuke, who was lounging on the chair in front of the desk, his feet up. "Hey, you're supposed to wait outside my door."

He rolled his eyes. "It was _open_." He said, mimicking her, not too long ago.

Sakura pouted. "So what? It's rude…" She frowned as she noticed the poetry book lying on the desk. "I _hate_ poetry." She complained. Sasuke sighed and pulled a chair up for her to sit down. "The exam is soon I'm telling you." The girl scowled beside him. "No need to remind me…" She mumbled to herself.

Sasuke flipped through the book. He raised his eyebrows at her work, obviously impressed. "I improved." Sakura said quickly, albeit a little smugly. Sasuke gave her a cocky look. "Of course, with my superior teaching skills."

"I work very hard too!" She shot back. Sasuke sighed again, and wrote out several questions on a spare piece of paper. Sakura admired his handwriting- smooth, evenly spaced and elegant.

No one talked for a while. It was Sakura who broke the silence. "How was your day today?" She said, barely a whisper, she tightened the grip of her pen. Inner Sakura wondered if she was a masochist, because there was no other reason for her inane determination to get her feelings stomped on.

"Fine." He said stiffly, refusing to meet her curious eyes, still concentrating on his book.

"My day was fun…" Sakura began, looking hard at her textbook, chewing her bottom lip. "I saw Yura… she looked… eccentric." Sakura's eyebrows crinkled in distaste when she recalled that horrifying image.

"I know." He snapped, "I don't criticize your date's clothing choices so don't bitch about mine."

"Fine." Sakura muttered, then, to herself, very quietly, "But at least Kiba didn't wear pink with orange." And yes, Yura wore a pink top with the orange pornography skirt.

"Look, I really do not care about your boyfriend or Yura's clothes. Concentrate on the work at hand."

"He's _not_ my boyfriend!" She said stubbornly, and was irritated to find that she was getting teary again. Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Don't start crying again, woman." Sakura ducked her head away so he wouldn't see.

"You did this wrong again…" Sasuke said impatiently. He pointed out the question she did wrong. The pink haired girl blinked and squinted at the question. "Uhh…this is describing the ocean's sound?"

"NO!" Sasuke said, clenching his fists. "This is describing the ocean _colour_! How could this be the _sound_!"

"Oh."

lxl

The next day at school Sakura spent most of her time with Kiba, at her friends' urging; she protested slightly, but then Ino reminded her that they all have boys to attend to anyway. Ino skipped off to the back of the school to join the lazy Shikamaru so Tenten and Hinata stayed with Sakura to watch the boys play soccer. Kiba's team had Neji and Shino, who were surprisingly good. The other team had a boy called Kankuro, Chouji and Lee.

Sakura wasn't surprised to see Kiba's team winning; after all, Kiba was infamous for his skills in sport. After scoring the tenth goal, he called timeout. Sakura went over to cheer them, and sent Hinata to give Naruto a drink. The small girl stumbled and stuttered, but managed to thrust the drink bottle at Naruto before she fainted.

Then the easy-going competitiveness escalated when Chouji declared himself exhausted and went to eat, and they recruited Sasuke. The tension was thick between Sasuke and Kiba, and Sakura was the poor piggy in the middle.

The game began with a violent start. Sasuke began with the ball and got it halfway to the field before Kiba cut in with a violent kick, and _almost_ caused Sasuke to fall. The crowd gasped, ooh'ed, aaah'd and cheered. Of course, Sasuke got more cheers, but that did not deter Kiba. He passed to Neji, faking to the right and passed to Shino, who instantly deflected it back to Kiba.

Kiba ran with amazing speed, dribbling the ball, and when Lee tried to steal the ball, Kiba executed a brilliant move that caused a cheer to slip from Sakura. Everyone looked at her in surprise, and she smiled sheepishly. The dog boy, upon hearing the cheer, seemed to gain an extra burst of energy.

However, Sasuke managed to scoop the ball from Kiba, and went on to a lightning fast dribble, as if he was practising contact juggling; Kiba ran beside him, and tried to take the ball, but Sasuke seemed to be possessed, defending the ball with surprising fervour for a guy whose nickname is "The human icicle."

"It's like you're the ball, Sakura," Tenten said in awe to the girl. Sakura sweat dropped, but everyone there agreed with Tenten.

Sasuke ran with the ball alone, even though there were openings for him to pass to Lee. In the end Neji managed to make Sasuke falter enough to let Kiba score the goal before time ran out. Everyone cheered; and the two teams, with the exception of Sasuke and Kiba, slapped each other on the back and congratulated the other team for a great game. Kiba jogged back to Sakura, and he grinned at her, flicking his sweat soaked hair back. She grinned back at him.

"Great game, Kiba! Those rumours of your athletic skills weren't exaggerated in the least!"

"Thanks, Sakura-chan! But I had to work pretty hard in there to keep up with pretty-boy!" Kiba chuckled. Sakura let out an involuntary giggle.

Said pretty-boy was silently fuming. He radiated off such a hostile aura that other people scuttled for safety. Sasuke turned around and was further enraged when he saw Sakura giggling at something Kiba said. He shoved things into his bag more furiously than usual. Shikamaru, who had at some point joined to watch the game, walked over to him, undeterred by Sasuke's anger.

"You lost the game because you didn't pass to the others like you should have." Shikamaru shoved his hands into his pockets, and he didn't miss the way Sasuke kept glaring at the couple behind him. He also didn't miss the comparison of Sakura to the soccer ball.

"I don't need you to tell me how to play my game." Sasuke snarled back, but the lazy genius shrugged. "You were selfish, pushed the others away and that was why the_ 'ball'_ was snatched from underneath your nose."

Sasuke whirled around to punch Shikamaru, but he had already walked away to join Ino.

lxl

At home, things weren't any better, as Kiba phoned Sakura right after dinner and the girl skipped upstairs, all the while giggling. Sasuke looked ready to break his second pair of chopsticks. Mikoto sighed. "Foolish little brother, just admit that you like her." Itachi said matter-of-factly."_I. DON'T._" Sasuke said through gritted teeth."It's a river in Egypt, Sasuke-Chan." Itachi smirked.

"… Shut up."

**_To be continued_**…

lxl

**Authoress's Notes: **So sorry for the late update! Please review! T.T SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE! Review please!

**Co-Author's Note:** Did anyone get the "river in Egypt" thing? If not, well… bugger.


	7. The English Exam

**She will be Loved**

**Authoress's Note: **Totally sorry about the late, late update! O.o I had exams! Sowwie everyone! Thank you so much for those reviews! They are wonderful, sniff sniff.

**Co-author's Note:** My fault it's a day late. Leave us lovely reviews. The 'river in Egypt' thing, it was meant to be Denial. Like The-Nile?

Fic based on the manga Mischievous Kiss by Kaoru Tada.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto. Yet. –starts plotting-

Chapter seven: The English Exam

lxl

The first part of Haruno Sakura's final English exam of the year has started. She found it rather difficult and easy at the same time. She stared hard at her paper; her mind went blank for a few minutes due to panic; a hard lump took residence in her throat. Swallowing a few times, she glanced across the room at The Great Uchiha, who looked completely bored and wrote his answers down like he was copying them. The pink haired girl's jaw dropped to the ground.

"Haruno-san." The teacher gave her a stern look. She nodded with an apology and buried her head down to do her exam.

_2 hours later…_

She collapsed onto the desk, nearly dead. Ino tossed her long blonde hair and sat beside her. "How was the exam?" She questioned, sneaking a look at Sasuke who was packing his stuff away.

"So tiring…" Sakura said, barely a whisper. Ino raised her nicely shaped eyebrow. "I thought err… Sasuke-san helped you study?" Sakura blinked. "Of course he did!"

"Then why was it so tiring? I found nothing wrong with it." She said nonchalantly.

"Easy for you to say," Sakura griped, "you lived in America before you came here." The blonde girl shrugged.

Ino grinned slyly. "Soo, you haven't made your move yet?"

"NO."

"Wonder what that stupid Yura did to him…" Ino wondered, Sakura flinched when she heard the name of evil personified. "I don't know." She said petulantly, glaring at her friend, blushing. "Anyway he doesn't like me." She said, tugging her hair back behind her ear.

"I can imagine Sasuke-san teaching you…" Ino said dreamily. Determined to get Ino to stop thinking about her 'relationship' with Sasuke, she grabbed the first blackmail material she had.

"What about you and Shikamaru?" Ino's smile faded away instantly, and her pale face flushed. She tried to suppress it, but Sakura had seen and was smirking. The blonde girl looked away, tracing small circles on the desk with her finger. "Nothing about him." She mumbled.

"Nothing?" Sakura smiled deviously.

Ino looked annoyed. "Anyway about Sasuke-kun…" She was cut off when Sasuke suddenly pushed past her to grab Sakura's hand.

"Oww! Watch it!" Sakura complained loudly, wincing. She could feel the glares of the fan girls on her. She kept her voice down. "Err, you want something?" She looked around. Sasuke hauled her outside of the classroom.

Once when they were outside, Sasuke unhanded her immediately. "What do you think you're _doing_?" Sakura asked shrilly, rubbing her wrist. "It hurts you know!" She glared at him, but he looked away.

"You shouldn't be stressing over one test." Sasuke said dully, completely ignoring her last protest. Sakura's jaw dropped. "It's easy for _you_! Look at you! Smart, getting A in _every_ subject! Look at me… I'm lucky if I PASSED." She mumbled something under her breath something about 'lucky as'.

The boy raised his dark eyebrow. "If you listened to what I said, you'll pass."

Sakura looked kind of happy. She bowed. "Thank you." Sasuke was a little taken back at her formality. "You didn't need to do that… it was only for that picture… I wouldn't have shown everyone anyway, I like you too much to tarnish your reputation." She half smiled. "Well, thank you anyway." Sasuke stared after her, then walked back into the classroom with his hands in his pockets, pondering about the evil that is Haruno Sakura, while furious at himself for playing right into her hands.

Sakura went home and studied hardcore. Sasuke had firmly told her to stop studying and let her brain rest for a while; to soak up the information, but she totally and steadfastly ignored him. Closing her door with a sign to stop anybody from disturbing her, she poured over huge volumes of text, notes taken almost religiously in class, plus the books from Sasuke. She looked closely at the questions, and scribbled some notes on her book. The clock ticked silently beside her.

Sasuke pushed open her door slightly, and leaned by it watching her while she studied. The silence hung heavy between them, Sakura never even noticing Sasuke by the door, as she was too busy studying. A rare expression appeared on Sasuke's usually stoic face.

He realized finally just how much she wanted to pass her exam. She'd told him it was for her mother, who'd passed away. She'd said that she would feel ashamed if she received bad marks, and wouldn't have the face to visit her mother's grave.

A tap on his shoulder made him jump. Whirling around and opening his mouth furiously, Lady Uchiha covered his mouth with her hand, silencing him. "You're not taking more photos are you?" Sasuke mouthed, once his mother's hand is down. She looked shocked (and sheepish) at the idea, and shook her head.

"She's so cute!" Mikoto said, almost squealing. Sasuke looked disgusted, and went into his bedroom, slamming his door shut.

He could hear his mother behind the door wailing. "Sasuke!"

lxl

Walking to school with Uchiha Sasuke was big trouble for Haruno Sakura. Girls and even _guys_ squealed and gushed as Sasuke went pass, taking _no_ notice (except of hostility) of the girl walking beside him. She was like Harry Potter wearing an Invisibility Cloak. She scowled beside him; he looked bored.

"You're pissed that they are looking at me?" Sasuke smirked devilishly, and more than a few people had nosebleeds.

"No! Of course not!" Sakura attempted to lie; she was never a great liar. He didn't believe her of course, she was too easy to read, especially to him.

"I don't really care." She mumbled quietly, trying to convince herself as well. She shrank as she walked by a couple of her schoolmates, who scowled at her with Razor Sharp Glares of Doom. She fidgeted, it wasn't _her_ fault that she's living with an incredibly talented, intelligent, handsome, athletic, irresistibly sexy guy with whom she has blackmail material over!

"Are you listening to me?" Sasuke snapped.

"… Uh? Yeah?" Sakura replied distractedly, still lost in her daydream of naming Sasuke's qualities. Inner Sakura shouted, telling her to pay attention to Sasuke.

"Stop looking at the lesser peons and concentrate." Sasuke said, annoyed.

"Concentrate on what?" Sakura shot back. "About how to praise my dear lord Uchiha Sasuke?" Never mind that she _was._ He scowled at her. "No, concentrate on your English exam. You should able to get A with _my_ help." He looked smug for a moment.

Sakura snorted, she couldn't help but yawn. She didn't really sleep last night, studied too much.

"You have bags under your eyes." Sasuke said, finally noticing.

"Gee, thanks." Sakura said sarcastically, then to her greatest annoyance, another girl who passed by them went goo-goo eyed at Sasuke, while managing to pull off a glare at Sakura's way. It was a fairly amusing sight.

They entered the school grounds; Sakura began to shake when she saw a sign saying _Exam Area_. She fidgeted and looked very nervous. Sasuke sighed and tapped her on her forehead. She protested. "Stay calm." He ordered.

"I can't help it…" She replied quietly, her voice fading away as they reached 2nd floor. "You should just stay calm and don't worry too much, sensei told me it was easy and- Oi Sakura!" He yelled when the flashes of pink bobbing beside him suddenly disappeared.

"What the hell?" Sasuke knelt beside her, and worriedly put a hand to her forehead. It wasn't hot, but rather clammy instead. Damn, he thought as he picked her up effortlessly and dashed towards the school clinic. How can she get sick? She's always so energetic!

The nurse laid her on an empty bed and told Sasuke she should rest until she wakes up and put water and some pills on the small table beside her. The nurse was very pretty, she had large brown eyes and straight black hair coming down to her waist. She was slim and tall. Sasuke nodded thanks with barely a glance her way while she left.

Sakura mumbled something in her sleep, something like _exam _and _failing_. Sasuke sighed and shook his head. He took out a book from his bag and began reading.

"Sasuke-kun…"

He blinked when he heard his name; he stopped reading and stared at the girl.

"I…love you." She mumbled and went back to a fitful sleep. A tinge of red appeared on Sasuke's cheeks, he was glad that no one was near them. He reached over and brushed her hair out of her face, caressing her gently on the cheek. He blinked; realizing what he was doing, and snatched his hand back like she was an infectious disease. He shook his head. _I'm not thinking, it's still early… Breathe…_ He frowned, but another look at her pretty features and his own slackened; he bent down to her face.

He hesitated for a moment, pausing as he gazed at her peacefully sleeping face. Sasuke closed his eyes and kissed her softly. Sakura moaned slightly, but didn't wake up. His eyes widened when he got up, refusing to believe what he just did.

"Hmmm…" Drawled a voice next to him. Sasuke snapped his head up, almost getting whiplash; a vein popped on his forehead. "Nii-san…" He said with gritted teeth. "What are you _doing_ here?" He demanded quietly, albeit dangerously.

"Nothing." Itachi said innocently, and took off his sunglasses. "Just… walking. Thought I'd drop by to see how my foolish little brother was doing." Roses and sparkles appeared behind him.

"Keep. Walking!" Sasuke said angrily.

Itachi ignored him. "She's sick?"

"You can tell." The younger brother said sarcastically, flopping down on the chair again. "Why are you here, really?" Sasuke asked. Itachi shrugged, and decided to change the topic. "I saw what you did." He grinned.

Sasuke blinked. "_What_?" He could feel the blood rushing into his cheeks.

"Oh _nothing_…" Itachi said with an evil smile on his face, making Sasuke's jaw drop. "You idiot! What did you see?"

"Admit it, you _like_ her." The older brother said in a very coy, gossipy way. Sasuke glared. "I do _not_." Itachi whistled softly. Putting his finger to his lips. "I won't tell her, I wouldn't want to ruin the little surprise." Sasuke muttered something under his breath, but looked relieved. The door pushed open, and the nurse walked in. She was surprised when she saw the brothers. "Oh hello." She said. "Another visitor I suppose." She smiled.

Itachi stood up and walked over to her, grabbing her hand. "Tachiko-san!" He beamed, almost giving off waves of sensuality. Tachiko looked embarrassed, and blushed. She was shocked at his reaction. "You know me?"

"Of _course_! Everyone in this school has been saying what a wonder and _stunning_ looking nurse in Konoha High is." She blushed with pleasure. Sasuke looked angry. "Nii-san… You're not-"

Itachi ignored him. "We shall talk outside." He bowed and kissed her hand like a gentleman. She looked delighted, and swayed on her feet. "Junior, take care of Haruno-san!" Tachiko said in a dreamy voice and followed Itachi outside. _Junior? JUNIOR?_

The younger Uchiha was speechless with rage and stared after their retreating backs.

lxl

"Nnng…" Sakura opened her eyes, and sat up slowly. The towel fell from her forehead. She rubbed her eyes.

"Told you." A voice said smugly.

Sakura blinked and turned her head around and stared at Sasuke. "What are _you_ doing here?" She nearly screamed. Her eyes filled with horror.

"I didn't do anything to you!" He snapped impatiently. _I must have been dreaming…_ Sakura thought bitterly. "Like I wanted to." He added. Sakura looked hurt and angry, she opened her mouth furiously. "You fainted and I carried you here." Sasuke explained before she could scream anymore.

"You _carried_?" A shock expression appeared on her face, but then turned dreamy. "I fainted?"

"Yes." Sasuke said through gritted teeth.

Another scream escaped from Sakura's lips. "What _now_?" Sasuke asked angrily. "You're disturbing other classes!" He said, eyes flashing dangerously. Sakura burst into tears. "I-It's ten o'clock! The exam should be over by now!" She sobbed.

"I know." Sasuke said in a calm tone. Sakura's jaw dropped. "You finished your exam?"

"No."

"Wha- WHAT?" She shrieked, Sasuke flinched, "what are you _stupid_? B-But you missed out on your exam!"

"It was a useless one anyway." He drawled. Sakura buried her face into her hands. "It's my fault! You probably won't get into University because of _me_!" Sasuke looked pissed and grabbed her wrist, pulling her up to let her look at him. "It's _not_ your fault. I chose to stay."

Tears leak out of Sakura's eyes.

"Stop crying!" Sasuke ordered, looking annoyed. Sakura sniffled and wiped her tears away. "I'm sorry." She squeaked like a mouse. "I-I didn't mean to faint like this. I think I studied too hard…" Her voice trailed off.

Sasuke sighed. "I _told_ you. You didn't listen to me."

"I'm sorry…"

"Stop apologizing!" Sasuke scolded. "We'll ask the teacher if we can redo the test."

Sakura's shot up so fast that nearly made the nearby table fall over. "R-Really?" She asked, looking happy.

"I don't see why not." Sasuke snapped.

"Oh thank you!" Sakura squealed and flung her arms around his neck, hugging him. He froze. She froze. "Oh. I'm sorry!" She released him, looking very embarrassed. He scowled, and rose. "It's time to go." He said rather coldly. "Since you're fine." He shot her a look.

"Oh…of course…" Sakura said, still flushing; she tried to grab a glass of water to cool herself down, but instead toppled it over and almost drenched Sasuke. "Oh! Sorry!" She yelled, trying to get up and wipe it off, putting them to a strange position.

"I'm fine!" Sasuke snapped, snatching the towel from her hand to wipe himself. "Why must you always be this destructive?" She bristled.

"Well I'm SORRY if I'm so clumsy I'm handicapped!" She retorted, and they got into another argument.

Outside, Itachi grinned and closed the door behind him, leaving the room (and a rather breathless nurse) behind him.

lxl

The Uchiha Sasuke fanclub gasped in horror when they saw Sasuke pulling Sakura towards the teacher's lounge, their hands linked. Their eyeballs nearly popped out of their sockets, gaping at them as if they had seen a ghost. Their jaws dropped when they pushed pass them, with Sakura looked dreamy. Sasuke scolded her for daydreaming and opened the teacher's office door.

Sakura gulped when she saw the teacher's eyebrows rise. "Erm, Sasuke-kun I don't think this is a good idea."

"Shut up." Sasuke said snappishly.

"Uchiha-san, is there a problem?" One of the teachers asked, eyeing him up and down.

"We missed out on our English exam, could we please re-sit it?" Sasuke asked, rather nicely. The girl beside him stiffened.

"Re-sit?" The another teacher, who supervised the exams, asked coldly, looking at him through her big and round glasses. "We?" She questioned. "Oh… Of course." She suddenly saw the girl beside him. Sakura blushed with embarrassment.

Sensei pushed up her glasses, leaving two red marks on her nose. "I want your names please."

"Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura." Sasuke said, narrowing his eyes. He didn't like the holdup, and his patience was thin.

"Uchiha and Haruno? Aren't you two…" Her voice trailed off.

"One of the top students?" Sasuke asked smugly. "Why of course." Sensei's eyes widened. "Re-sit? What happened to you two?"

"None of your concern." He asked coldly. The teacher flinched at his tone. "Excuse me, you do realize who you're speaking to?" Sakura's jaw dropped beside Sasuke, not believing just how daring and rude Sasuke was.

"Of course if you don't want to re-sit us, we'll have to ask the principal, won't we? He might have to ask us about why you wouldn't re-sit us yourselves…" Sasuke said darkly, smirking. She looked alarmed and furious for a moment. "I'll re-sit you of course. There is no need to go to the principal, you can all go now." She glared at them one final time. The Uchiha smirked, looking smug; turning on his heels he stalked off, Sakura following hopelessly after him.

"That was a bit harsh, Sasuke-kun." Sakura said timidly, looking behind them. Sasuke snorted. "Since when did you talk about harsh?" She blushed. "She _is_ a teacher! What if…"

"It's nothing to worry about." Uchiha scowled, glaring at the fangirls passing by. They squealed.

"_Did you see that? He LOOKED at me!" _

"_NO he looked at ME!"_

"_NO, ME!"_

Sakura looked uneasy, glancing at those fangirls.

"She won't do anything to us." Sasuke said, noticing her uneasiness.

"I-" Her voice trailed away when she noticed a huge crowd surrounding the notice board. "What now?" Sakura looked scared. She hurried towards the notice board with Sasuke walking slowly behind her.

Her jaw dropped as she saw the picture stuck on the board. "W-What is _this_?" She demanded. The picture shown Sasuke carrying Sakura on the stairs, she spun around and to her horror, she saw Yura besides her looking about to explode.

lxl

**Authoress's Notes: **Woot! Thank you for reading! I shall update faster now! Please forgive me for the lateness! Sorry! Please do review! Thank you heaps! xD

**Co-author's Note: **Just push the little purple button. You know you want to!


	8. Confusion

**She will be Loved**

**Authoress's Note: **Hi! Thanks for teh reviews! They were wonderful as usually hehe. I do apologize for my last er update -.- Anyway this is chapter 8! Enjoy!

Fic based on Mischievous Kiss by Kaoru Tada

**Co-writer Earthborne**

Yeah. Just please review. Show your love.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto!111 o.o

Chapter eight: Confusion

lxl

"What. Is. _This_?" Yura practically screamed into Sakura's face. The pink haired girl staggered backwards, looking utterly shocked. She threw a pleading look at Sasuke, who was also gaping at the picture; an almost angry expression appeared on his handsome face. Sakura opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. The President of the Uchiha Sasuke Fanclub opened her mouth angrily, looking reading to kill, her hands on her fat, wide hips. She pointed her heavily bejeweled and spangled finger at Sakura. "What is _that_," She glared at the picture. "About?" She asked shrilly.

Sakura looked around for help, but she all could feel were the nasty glares from the fangirls on her. She gulped helplessly. "Err, I was uh, sick?" She forced a small laugh. She was feeling scared yes, but a small flare of anger bubbled in her. It wasn't like she did anything wrong.

"Sick?" Yura screamed, spraying Sakura with spit.

"I fainted! Sasuke-kun carried me to the-" Sakura began to say.

"_Carried!_" The president almost fainted, interrupting her. "He'd never carry a- a _slut_ like you!" Sakura's jaw dropped, her face red as a tomato, and shaking with rage. She looked as if she's about to cry, she blinked them back furiously. "How would you know what he would and wouldn't do?!" She finally shouted back, claws extended, "And I don't care about what you say anyway." Her green eyes glared at her, spinning imperiously on one heel as she stalked off. How dare she accuse her of being a slut! The hypocrisy!

"I am _not_ finished with you!" Yura screamed, but made no attempt to chase after her. In fact she was pretty pleased to see the pink haired girl backing off. The rosette huffed and stomped angrily, barreling through hapless school mates. A hand grabbed her arm. Sakura angrily spun around, her hand balled into a fist, looking about to punch the next person who talked to her. "Piss off!" To her surprise, it was Kiba. He looked uneasy. "Uhh, it's not the right time?"

Sakura forced a smile. "Sorry, thought you're someone else." Kiba let go her arm. Sakura looked up. "You want to talk about something?" She questioned, frowning a little. A dark feeling descended on her; it was not a good sign.

"Yes, about Uchiha-san." He said quietly.

"Oh." Sakura forced a blush, fidgeting.

"Y-You still like him right?" He asked, his voice raspy. Sakura looked away, her frown deepening.

"Everyone was saying he carried you to the nurse." Kiba demanded, stepping closer to her. Sakura for a moment looked scared. "I-I was feeling sick." She said quietly, looking at his dark eyes. Kiba tried not to look hurt. "I knew this someday would happen. You'll never belong to me." He said hoarsely, kicking at the ground, his hands stuffed in his pockets. Sakura bit her bottom lip, trying not to cry, because she knew she had hurt him deeply.

"Uchiha-san will win you over even though he doesn't reciprocate your feelings and appreciates you." His lips compressed into a thin line, but he inhaled deeply and nothing escaped him to betray his feelings.

The girl looked down. "I'm sorry." Slowly she bowed at him. Kiba looked taken back. "Sakura-san…"

"Sakura." She corrected him, straightening up again. "I-I wish we can still be friends." Sakura held out her hand. Kiba hesitated, then grinned, taking her hand. "Of course we will." He squeezed her hand, his still warm and comforting.

But in her heart, Sakura was scared. What if Kiba was right, and she'd never be able to get over Sasuke? Would she grow old and become a spinster?

lxl

Haruno Sakura finally reached the Uchiha household, dragging herself through the gates. She'd been ready to pour herself a hot drink, until the Uchiha heir jumped in front of her, startling the poor girl. She raised her eyebrows.

"I _heard_!" Itachi said slyly, winking.

The pink haired girl made no expression. "Heard _what_?" Sakura asked blankly, entering their kitchen and saw Sasuke, who was eating noodles. She felt her cheeks warming up. She opened the fridge door, ignoring Sasuke. But more importantly, to get away from Itachi's infuriating I-know-it-all smirks.

"About err... what's his name again? Oh yes, Kiba-_kun_." Itachi said mockingly. Sakura blinked, then scowled. "I did what I had to do." She glared, forcing herself not to look at Sasuke. She could feel his gaze at her back. It made her shiver. Sakura wondered how Itachi heard of her breakup with Kiba. Maybe the man was born with telepathy powers. She furrowed her eyebrows; actually, that made heaps more sense, it certainly cleared up a lot of things.

"For my foolish baby brother?" He asked innocently. Sakura heard Sasuke choke on the other side of the kitchen. Sasuke's eyes watered; he'd been eating chilli noodles.

"NO." She said hotly, she fought her blush down.

"It has nothing to do with me." Sasuke mumbled; wiping his mouth with a napkin, his expression stoic to most. But Itachi has known Sasuke his entire life, so he could read the hidden look of happiness in his brother's eyes. Itachi blinked, then stepped towards and circled his arms around Sasuke's neck. The younger Uchiha looked horrified.

"Oh, but it has_ everything_ to do with _you_." Itachi purred, nuzzling his neck.

"Get off me!" Sasuke shrugged him off, looking disgusted. He rose from the chair. "I'm going to my room." He threw another nasty look at his brother, who grinned at him, and fast as a striking cobra – whoosh – poked Sasuke on his forehead. The younger Uchiha left without saying anything (what _could_ he say? Ouch?), rubbing his abused forehead and casting dark looks over his shoulder.

"Uhh, I better go too." Sakura said after five minutes, putting her glass of warm milk down. The taller boy shrugged, not seeing the fun in tormenting the cute girl when his brother wasn't around to over react, and flopped down onto the couch. Sakura climbed up the stairs; she'd been wondering about the anonymous busybody who posted the pictures, but now she knows who it was. She can't really say she was happy, but at least Sasuke didn't reject her. Giggling to herself, she entered her room and took out her English book preparing for her exam tomorrow.

Both of them resat the exam next morning. The teacher wasn't very happy about their excuses for missing out on the exam the other day. She made an extremely long speech about top students who should be on time always. Sakura thought that her speech would have gotten her an Excellence if she were doing speeches in her class. She glanced at the dark haired boy beside her. Sasuke didn't look at all pleased; his arms were folded, tapping his fingers, a dark brow raised. She sighed. And yes their teacher continued the long, long speech…

When they came out of the room, Sasuke had no expression on his face. Sakura looked extremely worried. He noticed. "What are you worrying about?"

"I think I did my question 36 wrong!" She said quietly. "They were asking me about writing definitions out… I-I think I didn't write it in full… Oh no…" She groaned, burying her face into her hands.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. A girl fainted when she saw him. He paid no attention. "You'll be fine. Of course, you were tutored by _me_." He said, a smirk crept up to his lips.

"Don't be so sure of yourself." Sakura said wisely, although she was plenty amused by his teasing arrogance.

"I _am_ Uchiha Sasuke." He said smugly. Sakura raised her eyebrow, making no comments. They turned the corner; a group of girls passed by them, nearly knocking Sakura down with their palpable hate. Sakura glared back. "You should do something about your fangirls!" She said angrily, rubbing her forehead, where the attack had been centered.

"It's not my problem they chase after me." Sasuke shrugged, and was that a _smirk_ on his face?

"Tell them to piss off would be nice." Sakura suggested. He snorted. "Then I would need to tell _you_ to piss off then." He reasoned, barely containing his chuckle. "Hey!" She yelled indignantly, and waved her fist at him.

Mikoto was really happy to see Sakura and Kiba breaking up, she kept on grinning throughout the night and giving her son a proud smile. While Mikoto did feel quite badly for Kiba ("I heard he was such a nice boy") she couldn't help but let joy overtake her. Sasuke looked irritated when Mikoto put him beside an embarrassed Sakura at the dinner table.

"I have something to tell you!" Mikoto said during supper, smiling at her husband beside her. Fugaku returned the smile. "Well you see my mother passed away a few years ago, and she left us a hotel inn! I want everyone to stay there for a few days for the holidays, now that all your exams are over! It's not very far from here." She looked hopefully at the others. Itachi looked excited, eager to do something for the holidays, Sasuke had an expression like he'd just swallowed a particularly sour lemon. Sakura looked blank, not sure about what she'd just heard.

"Bring your friends too, I insist!" Mikoto said kindly, patting Sakura's hand. But no one (except for maybe Itachi) knows that she's secretly plotting something!

"Do I have to go…" Sasuke grumbled, looking slightly annoyed. The lady Uchiha looked taken back. "Yes, Sasu-chan!" He winced at his nickname. He mumbled something under his breath. Sakura blinked.

"We shall leave this weekend, since the holidays is starting next week." His mother said, ignoring Sasuke's protests. His face was red with suppressing his anger. Sakura looked suddenly happy. _Spending more time with him! _She thought dreamily, drooling.

lxl

"You're stepping on my _foot_." Sasuke snarled at Sakura as she clumsily stumbled and stepped onto his foot. She squeaked, moving away as fast as she could. Ino sniggered behind her. Sakura sent her a nasty glare, and Ino immediately shut up.

Mikoto got out of the van, smiling broadly, resplendent in a white summer dress. "Isn't this place wonderful?" She grinned and looked at Sakura, who was goggling at the huge house. Her mouth shaped a perfect 'O'. Sasuke beside her shook his head and opened the front door, carrying some luggage.

Ino didn't look at all amazed; in fact she's pretty rich herself. Sakura had seen her houses; they were bigger than the house here. Mikoto swept pass them, giving Sakura another sly smile before joining Sasuke and them inside the house. "You girls should hurry in before we close the door." She singsonged.

"Obaa-sama is really determined." Tenten said, staring at her back. Sakura found herself nodding, unable to speak. They found the house more amazing when they entered it; the furniture antique, well kept and polished. The Uchihas have obviously been here before; they knew exactly where to go.

Sakura, Ino and Tenten found their rooms with little difficulty, as they were actually shown there by Itachi, who had slipped away somehow in the midst of unpacking so he could sneak off and do God knows what.

"Hmmm… You sure you want to share a room with us?" Tenten asked, pretending to be innocent. Ino grinned besides her, catching on immediately. "Yes big forehead girl, sharing a room with us is such a shame." Sakura blinked. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Oh, wouldn't you rather share a room with dear Sasuke-kun." Ino smacked her lips, an evil smile spread across her face, poking her best friend's shoulder. Sakura blushed, looking around. "I do _not_." She said hotly, fighting to keep her flush to a minimum.

"Is that a lie I hear?" Tenten said sarcastically.

"Y-No!" Sakura said, defending herself, and putting her clothes in the closet. She glared at her two friends, who sniggered. "I smell food, I'm going to the kitchen."

"Yes milady, our dear Lord Sasuke will be there, waiting for your hand." Ino said, taking an overly extravagant, but very graceful, bow. Tenten hollered with laughter. Sakura smacked her hard on the arm. "Not funny." She stormed out of the room. She could hear her friends laughing their asses off. She shook her head. _Friends_. I brought them here for emotional support and because I was being nice, and look what they do!

Walking softly across the lush carpet, she searched around before she found the shared kitchen. She heard Itachi and Mikoto talking in the room. She blinked when she heard her name. Unwilling to disturb them, she pressed her ear onto the door. A little eavesdropping is not that bad, she reasoned to herself, plus I might get to hear what Mikoto and Itachi would try to throw at us next time.

"I haven't seen Sasu-chan and Sakura making any progress." Sakura heard Mikoto whine to her eldest prodigy son, then sigh wistfully.

"Oh I wouldn't say that." Itachi drawled, a noise that sounded like metal on ceramic clinking, probably stirring his soup. Mikoto glanced at her older son. "Why is that?" Sakura realized she wanted to know badly herself as well.

"You know why they missed out on the English entrance exam?" Itachi said slowly, obviously enjoying this.

Mikoto raised one perfectly shaped eyebrow. "Uhh, Sasu-chan told me they were late?" She drummed her fingers on the table impatiently.

"Well Sakura was sick…" Itachi began. Mikoto's eyes widened and grabbed for his hands. "Y-You mean." She started to say in a hoarse whisper, her voice shaking. "Sasuke swooped her up into his arms, kissed her a-and told her that he loves her!" Roses and sparkles appear behind Mikoto. "It's like my dream come true! Oh I always wanted a grandchild. I wish it's a girl, I always wanted a girl!" She danced around madly. Even her hysteria was a bit too much for Itachi. He shook himself, and cleared his head.

"Uhh… No." Itachi coughed, rolling his eyes. Mikoto's face fell. "I knew it, it's too good to be true." Sakura balled her fists. _Move on with the story! Shannaro!_

"Anyway," Itachi continued, "Sakura fainted, and Sasuke carried her to the nurse's office." He said, ignoring his mother's gasps. Of surprise, glee and amusement all rolled into one.

"He didn't go to his entrance exam."

Sakura blinked. She wondered how Mikoto was going to take this. Not going to an entrance exam on time looked badly on the report, even if it was to help a sick friend. Exam judges were cruel like that.

"He didn't?" Lady Uchiha said in a shocked tone. "And then?" She didn't seem to mind that her son had missed the test. Itachi smiled. "It's a secret." Sakura decided to walk away quietly and up the stairs, her feet taking her automatically to Sasuke's room as if she had a Sasuke-radar. She knocked on the door several times before he angrily swung open the door. "_What_?" He asked through gritted teeth. "I'm _changing_." Sakura stepped back; her face couldn't get redder than a tomato, desperately trying to tear her eyes away from his finely toned chest. "I'm so sorry!" She cried, ready to dash off. But he caught her wrist. "Doesn't matter." He put his black shirt back on. "_What_?" A faint flush lingered around his own cheeks, but Sakura was much too preoccupied with her own embarrassment (not to mention burning that image into her brain forever) to notice.

"Well I just… wanted to say sorry for all the trouble I've caused you." Sakura said, fidgeting. "About the photos." She added as an afterthought, in case he didn't get what she meant. He blinked, and then looked annoyed. "I don't care about that. It's not like it's your fault." She looked flustered, and hung her head. This caused her pink mane to fall forward a bit. Unconsciously, he leant forward to squint at the roots – yep, definitely pink too. He raised his eyebrows. "Is your hair really natural?" He suddenly asked, the curiosity burning within him.

Sakura's jaw dropped, looking more perplexed than ever. "It's natural!" She mumbled, while her cheeks turned the colour of her hair.

"According to the scientists, you're not supposed to have…well _pink_ hair." The prodigy said, pausing. Her hair was defying genetics, unless she was the first of the human race to start evolving again in millennia, and somehow he really doubted that.

"Well blame my parents then." She said hotly, stamping her foot, her hands covering over her hair and backing away from him to defend herself. "It's not my fault I got pink hair! Don't you think enough 'scientists' have told me that my hair is unnatural? They used to think I had some weird disease! I just have weird melanin, okay? Screw the scientists!" She stalked away, almost furious. She could hear him sniggering from behind. She turned around. "Just because that abomination you call hair looks like a chicken's behind!" With a satisfied look, she turned on her heel and stomped away, very smug to see Sasuke's jaw drop. She so did NOT just insult my hair he thought in disbelief.

She knew he took great pride in his hair. She admired everything about him, but his hair still looked like it must be dubbed "Master Chicken."

"Such a wonderful _body_ you have!" Mikoto said loudly, loud enough for the men's hot springs to hear from the other side. They were at the hot springs with the rest of the family, including Ino and Tenten. Sakura instantly turned scarlet; she wished she would just die. On the other side, Itachi coughed, sneaking a glance at his brother. He was (through a heroic effort) expressionless.

"Oh _yes_. Such a lovely body." Ino's voice drawled, splashing the water about as she fought to contain herself. Sakura yelped with embarrassment, burying her head into her hands. Mikoto patted her, clutching her towel in her hand. Sakura lowered her head and looked at her flat chest, barely an A cup; her face turned heated up, and it wasn't due to the steam in the bath. "I'd really appreciate it if y-you well keep it quiet…" Sakura spluttered (great, she thought, I'm turning into Hinata), she could hear the other women sniggering and the men from the other side making 'oohs'.

Lady Uchiha grinned. "You're pure as an angel, dear." She said kindly, ignoring Sakura's meek request. Her jaw dropped. Tenten turned away, and nearly asphyxiated with laughter. Sakura's face could have turned all the water in the bath into steam. She stood up, wrapping the towel tightly around herself. "I-I'm going!" Sakura wondered if committing suicide by slipping and cracking her head was an option.

Itachi on the other side smirked. "I wish I can be over there with Sakura-_chan_." He said wistfully, adding just the right amount of longing into his voice. Their father had long since abandoned their childish games, and went over to sit underneath a waterfall. Sasuke's eyebrows twitched, and he gritted his teeth. "I mean," Itachi continued (he really didn't know when to quit), "I can just imagine her soft, curvy (blatant lie) body…" Sasuke sank lower into the bath water, closing his eyes. He blew bubbles out slowly, doing everything in his power to ignore his brother. Concentrate, Sasuke told himself firmly, you are in your happy place, where no annoying brothers and/or mothers can get to you. Itachi's voice drilled into him anyway. Sasuke almost grunted with the effort of keeping his focus. _Happy place, happy place, you are in your happy place._

Annoyed that he wasn't getting a rise out of Sasuke, Itachi poked him in the forehead. "Don't start with me." Sasuke finally growled with his fists clenched underneath the water; his forehead throbbed. Itachi smirked, then abruptly rose up out of the water in all his naked and finely muscled glory. Sasuke closed his eyes and willed himself to die. He would have nightmares for months.

"Don't worry, Sasu-_chan_," Itachi lamented, wrapping a towel around his chest, "I know Sakura is off limits, even to me. She's _all_ yours." Sasuke considered throwing soap at his brother. Instead Itachi laughed and went to change.

He glared at his retreating back. His only consolation was a few men squawking in the changing room; they thought at first glance that Itachi was female.

lxl

It was twilight when the family assembled outside on the porch for dinner. Sakura didn't feel like hanging around with the rest of the family; Mikoto would just humiliate her again in front of Sasuke. She knew the older woman meant well, but the bath incident was a bit too much. After that, Sasuke didn't even so much as sneeze her way and he had disappeared already too. She wandered around the small forest that they had, not particularly worried about getting lost, as it was a fairly sparse forest.

She bit her lip, looking at her watch impatiently, waiting until it was polite enough to be excused for bed. _Oh hurry up…_ Then she heard voices, one female and male. She couldn't help being curious. She peeked through behind the bushes. She could feel her jaw drop again. It was _Sasuke_ and some random girl, who was totally beautiful. She had ruler straight shoulder length platinum blonde hair. She tasted jealousy, bitter and vile on her tongue. An icy hand gripped her heart.

The beautiful girl touched Sasuke's arm. To her greatest dismay and sadness, he didn't flinch away. Sakura felt faint, putting her a hand over her forehead. She felt tears leaking out of her eyes. _This cannot be happening… He wanted to come here to see her!_

She fell back, feeling more depressed than ever. _So that's why he never paid any attention to me…I mean I had to _blackmail _him into even tolerating me!_

_Who am I kidding… he's the most popular boy in the school. I'm only Haruno Sakura, freak with a high forehead and abnormal hair, with a flat chest and a voice in her head. _

_There are tons of beautiful girls after him. I bet he'd just brush me off like **dirt**. _

More tears leaked out, her vision went blurry; she stumbled off, not really seeing or caring where she was going, or even that she was noisily crashing her way through the thick undergrowth.

Then she gasped when her foot landed in nothing but air, and she had one moment of crystal clear thought, and that she was probably going to die. Losing her balance, she lurched forward, and tumbled. A root snagged her wrist. Her scream echoed through the silent night.

_**To be continued…**_

lxl

**Authoress's Note: **Sorry for the late update again. Thank you those who has been reading all the time. Love you all! Please make me more happy by reviewing me! Thank you, ehehe. See you all in chapter 9!

Co-Author: If you don't want pink girly here to die, review.


	9. Alone

**Authoress's Notes: **-gasp- thank you _all_ for those great reviews! Of course not Sakura isn't going to die, hehe. Did I tell you people I passed my grade 8 piano exam? O.o hmmm I'm sure I have lol. Oh yea, the fic title _She will be Loved _has nothing to do with the song by Maroon 5! The title is just very suitable for the ficcie.

Here is chapter 9! Please enjoy! (hehe)

**Co-written with Earthborne**

Isn't it always! The 'root' that snagged her wrist was actually Sasuke, in case people haven't figured it out already. And I wouldn't kill off the main character! That's just so... anti-climatic.

Fic based onto the manga Mischievous Kiss by Kaoru Tada.

**Disclaimer: **Don't own this… -shameful-

Chapter nine: Alone

lxl

Sasuke flinched when he heard a commotion from behind the bushes. He sighed; he had a feeling it was Sakura, who saw him in yet another compromising situation. "Sas- " The girl began to speak. He ignored her completely and ran towards the noise, catching up with her quickly due to his long legs. Not to his greatest surprise he saw Sakura, fully in tears. The idiot wasn't even looking at where she was going! "Sakura!" he called to her, but she seemed too deep in distress to hear him.

Sakura gasped, and there was a moment of eerie silence, the calm before the storm, but Sasuke couldn't see what it was, until a split-second later, too late. It was a small cliff, with Sakura screaming as she lost her balance and fell. Desperately he lunged for her, only managing to snag her wrist as she plummeted, and he fell with her. She clung to him for dear life, and he doubted that she even knew he was there. Gritting his teeth, he only managed to turn them around so he would take the brunt of the fall before excruciating pain blossomed in his right leg and he lost consciousness.

Sakura woke up with a pounding headache. She groaned as she tried to get up. Finding herself unable to, due to some sort of restraint around her waist, she looked down to see Sasuke, of all people, holding on to her.

"S-Sasuke-kun?" She spluttered, blushing madly. What the hell was he doing here? She remembered seeing him and that girl, running away, falling, and… and something grabbing her. Could it have been Sasuke? "Sasuke-kun!" She said, shaking him by the shoulders slightly.

Silence.

"Sasuke-kun?" She repeated more loudly. When the dark haired boy didn't move, in contrast to only seconds before, all the blood drained from her face, making her as pale as a sheet. Her jaw dropped, panicking. _Is he dead_? Sakura stared at the boy lying on the ground, immobile. _He's dead now, because-because of me!_ Icy fear gripped her heart and squeezed unmercifully, the cold realization of what she'd done crashing into her like a cement truck. Tears leaked out of her eyes. She sobbed. _What should I tell Mikoto-san, what will I do? _She flung herself onto his chest and cried her heart out.

"…Sakura…" Mumbled Sasuke beneath her, after several moments. She blinked, shot up straight as if she'd been electrocuted. She swallowed hard.

"You're so heavy…" He groaned, reaching a hand out to pull on her pink hair.

"Sasuke-kun?" She nearly shrieked. The previously thought dead Sasuke winced at the level. Sakura embraced him so fast that the only thing he could see was a flash of pink and the smell of strawberry that was her shampoo floated in her wake.

"I thought you were _dead_." Sobbing quietly to herself, she released him. He looked taken back. "I'm not that easy to kill." He managed, before he stared at her, hard. Sakura flushed deep crimson. "Sorry." She mumbled. Sneaking a look at his injured leg, she felt so guilty. Sasuke noticed. "You should really see what you're running into." He scowled.

The pink haired girl beside him fidgeted uneasily. "I'm so sorry, I was… a bit shocked." She stifled a sob.

"She's my elementary classmate." He blurted suddenly, surprising her and himself. He didn't know why he was explaining all of this. Sakura looked up, startled, her heart beat faster with hope. "She was just surprised I was here. Actually I had no idea she even existed." Sakura looked relieved and happy at the same time. She nodded slowly.

"Let me take a look your leg…" Sasuke gritted his teeth when she turned his mangled leg around.

Sakura didn't speak when she saw the carnage and instead disappeared behind him. He sighed heavily; he knew she was going to find something hard and straight for his poor leg, which was throbbing with exquisite pain. She appeared besides him after a few minutes, holding a plank of wood. She kneeled down. "This will do." Sasuke stared. "Where did you learn your first aid from?"

"My mother taught me a bit when I was young, when I fell and broke my leg." She said quietly, a rare smile gracing her face. She tore her pink yukata from the bottom, working her way up, making strips of cloth. Sasuke's well-defined jaw dropped. "You're tearing your _yukata_?"

"What choice do I have?" She demanded, wrapping the hard and sturdy material around his leg with the splint attached. He flinched and bit the inside of his cheek to endure the stinging pain. She stood up when she was done. Sasuke was still staring at her uneven yukata, which revealed much more leg than he was comfortable with. She gave him a hand in standing up, steadying them both as he wobbled uncertainly on his one good leg while the other was kept aloft. On arm went around her neck while her own wrapped around his waist. Neither was very embarrassed by this (ok, maybe Sakura was).

_Meanwhile…_

"Obaa-sama!" Ino called out, waving a hand at her. Mikoto smiled and hurried over to the two girls. Anyone could tell Ino was planning something. Mikoto sat down beside Tenten. "I wonder where Sakura and Uchiha-san is." Tenten said innocently, stealing a look at Ino. She sniggered. Mikoto sighed, happily in a way. "Teenagers these days… Sneaking off without telling their parents and doing… you-know-what…" She paused to take a look at the two girls beside her. Ino threw her magnificent head back and laughed. Tenten also grinned; she wasn't as fierce as Ino.

"They are _so_ eager aren't they?" Ino said slyly, still giggling. Tenten sniggered again, braiding her sleek brown hair into two pigtails.

Mikoto was ecstatic. "I've always wanted a grandchild!" She gushed dreamily. Ino and Tenten looked at each other. Maybe that was taking it a bit too far? They shook their heads and left Lady Uchiha to her daydreaming

lxl

Sasuke gritted his teeth as he hung onto Sakura. They'd been walking for at least an hour now, trying to find a slope to the top of the cliff. She anxiously looked at him. "Are you ok?" He glared at her and made no comment. His leg was throbbing; he didn't want to spend a night at an unknown forest, with potentially evil predators prowling around, especially with Sakura there. Said girl frowned and suddenly stopped. Sasuke stared. "What?"

"I think we're reaching a river." Sakura said, biting her lip.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, silently wincing as another stab of pain shot through his leg. "So?"

"I need to take care of your leg of course." She said shrilly, leading him towards the river. Sasuke opened his mouth to speak. "My _leg_ is _fine_." He insisted. Sakura glared at him under the moonlight. "It is not _fine_." She poked the leg. Bright spots of agony danced in his vision, but he didn't cry out, instead he trembled in pain. "See, it's not right." She said smugly.

"I'll stay here, you go call for help." Sasuke told her reasonably. She blinked, staring at him as if he's crazy. "I'm _not_ leaving you behind. What if there's like, some female animal out there and they fall in lust with you and carry you off to their cave or nest and have their wicked way with you?" Her voice rose in octaves until Sasuke was sure his eardrums were about to bleed. She rose from the ground to get some water from the bank, brooking no argument. Sakura heard him sigh from behind.

"Listen to me, you have to call for help or else we'll be stuck here forever." Sasuke demanded.

Sakura shivered.

"I-I can't do that. Don't ask me to, please Sasuke." She said quietly, desperately, her voice barely a whisper. He groaned. "Go Sakura, I'll be fine." He ordered; his jet black eyes piercing through own her deep viridian ones. She bit her lip once more. Finally she nodded, wiping off the tears.

"I'll be right back!" Sakura called back as she ran. Sasuke didn't say anything; he was breathing too hard. Sakura ran in a steady rhythm, being sure to reserve her strength. She'd run for about five minutes before an unsettling feeling stirred her. The feeling grew the farther she got, and her steps became more and more heavy until she couldn't move. The ominous feeling wouldn't shake, so she turned right around and ran back. Turning a corner, she saw Sasuke slumped on the ground next to the tree, unconscious, and the wooden splint had loosened. She screamed loud, before she could stop herself. Sakura rushed over to see if Sasuke's okay. She sniffed loudly as she lifted him up. "It's _all_ my fault." She mumbled to herself. "If I hadn't run away… So stupid, never listen to a patient, especially one as stubborn and proud as Sasuke." She placed a hand onto his forehead, and was relieved to see he wasn't burning up.

Sasuke's chest rose and sank as he breathed. He was frowning, even in his sleep. Sakura quickly tied the wood back onto his leg again. Lifting up his head carefully, she placed it on her lap. She sighed heavily and she leaned against the tree while she dozed off.

lxl

"They are still not back." Itachi said, reading through his newspaper while sipping his coffee (straight black, no sugar) quietly. Mikoto smiled. "Oh you have to give them time, Itachi." He shook his head and went back to his newspaper. His mother, he decided, was truly going too fangirl for his tastes. His (foolish) little brother was only 17, for god's sake!

"Sure they're enjoying themselves." Ino huffed, arriving at the breakfast table, wearing a stunning outfit consisting of a turquoise halter top that showed her smooth belly plus white hot pants. Itachi looked surprised, then he grinned (it was more of a leer than anything else was). "Oh Ino-san you look-"

"1000 yen please." Ino interrupted him, holding out her hand. Tenten, who wore a modest bikini in dawn pink and her hair in buns, rolled her eyes and sat down besides Mikoto. Both females exchanged smiles. Itachi's face fell, and in a tone of mock despair, whined "You're cruel."

Ino grinned, shrugging, and took a seat next to him. "Girls just wanna have funds, you know. Plus, I'm already taken." She looked smug. The elder Uchiha pulled a face, grabbing for more toast. The brunette looked anxious. "Do you really think they're fine?" She asked Mikoto.

Itachi's mother shrugged. "Yeah of course…" Her voice trailed off, looking out at the window. Her eldest son grinned. "I bet they are just waking up…"

lxl

Sakura opened her eyes slowly; the sunlight, plus her aching muscles, was honestly killing her. Rubbing her eyes softly, she tried to sit up. She groaned as she fell back down, followed by a quiet thud. Sakura gasped when she saw Sasuke lying on the ground, his head facing the other way. Inner Sakura screamed her lungs out. For a moment she went blank, she didn't know what she was doing there and _how_.

The pink haired girl moved a little closer to Sasuke. Her eyes widened as she touched his cheek carefully. _This can't be **real**. _Inner Sakura shrieked with happiness. After a few minutes, she finally remembered what happened last night. She slapped her cheek to wake herself up.

She carefully stepped around Sasuke and walked (limped, remember she used her lap as Sasuke's pillow for the whole night!) to the riverbank slowly. She gritted her teeth; her legs hurt like hell.

"Sakura."

She spun around, and was surprised to see Sasuke sitting up. "Y-You're awake." She stammered, hating herself for stammering. She still had a small water bottle from last night at the barbeque, which she used to fill the tiny container.

"Yeah, and where are we?"

"I don't know myself actually." She confessed, standing up and walked towards Sasuke to give him water to drink. He noticed her hobble. "What's up with you?" He demanded,

"Nothing." She answered quickly, handing him the water. Sasuke raised one dark eyebrow. "Did you let me sleep on your lap or something?"

Sakura's hand balled into a fist. _I hate geniuses. _"Fine, yes I did." Came out as an indignant snap.

"Why would you do such a thing?" Sasuke smirked, his voice smooth as a silk, glancing down at her. Sakura blushed and opened her mouth furiously to speak. "I was _helping_ you!" She mumbled something under her breath.

"We should be going now." He suddenly said quietly, completely changing the subject. Sakura nodded slowly, raising her eyebrows as she stood up. Sasuke tried to stand up as well, but sadly, he lost his balance.

Sakura yelped when he stumbled on top of her (again).

Looking bewildered, the dark haired boy stared down at her. She stared back, with her mouth hanging open. Her cheeks flushed crimson as he stared. Sakura squeezed her eyes shut as he leaned towards her. She could feel his hot breath on her face. _Please God don't let this be a dream…_

Sasuke buried his face into her hair, inhaling her scent. "Thank you." He finally murmured.

lxl

Sasuke was surprised; he didn't know how Sakura could help him climb all the way to the top without stopping. _Maybe stupid girls have more energy since they don't waste it on thinking... _He gritted his teeth as Sakura put him down by a tree, not very far from the Uchiha cottage/inn.

He glanced up at her, she was looking around anxiously, although for what he had no idea. Probably still on the lookout for horny animals wanting his hot ass. He felt grateful to her and was glad she didn't drop him or anything. He could feel his legs pulsing. He felt so tired. "Sakura go get my parents... Or anyone, even Itachi." Sasuke told her.

Sakura blinked; Sasuke must be more messed up than she originally thought. Darting her gaze across to stare at him, "I _can't_, you'll end up fainting again."

"I don't always faint when you leave me." He snapped, looking annoyed.

"I'm not going! You'll faint!" She huffed, being stubborn.

"Yes you are!" He said angrily, trying to stand up, but ruined the dramatic moment when he fell back down. "Fine, I'll come with you." He scoffed as Sakura helped him up from the ground; she managed to look both timid and smug at the same time.

Once they reached the cottage, Sasuke shrugged her off to knock on the door. He knocked on the door repeatedly, a tiny frown spread across his face, his other hand holding onto the bars to prevent himself from falling. Footsteps were heard. Probably Mikoto, Sakura thought happily. The door swung open so quickly that it hit Sakura on the head, completely taking her by surprise. Sasuke was smart enough to dodge it even though he was injured. She could hear Mikoto yell in surprise and she crouched before her. "Sakura are you _alright_?" She managed a smile, while rubbing her very sore forehead. "I-I'm fine." She looked over to Sasuke, who was glaring down at them, apparently not amused.

_Shit._

"Uh, Sasuke-kun broke his leg…" Sakura managed to say, giving him an apologetic look. Another shriek was heard. Sasuke flinched as his mother flung her arms around his neck. "Sasu-chan you're _hurt_!" He glared at the pink haired girl. The look seemed to say '_Now look at what you've done. You've set her into her 'mother hen' mode on me.'_

They went into the house and entered the great living room. Sakura noticed Itachi sitting on the sofa with his legs crossed, reading a thick novel (which happened to be Sun Tzu's _The Art of War._) "Yo, you two are finally…" He looked at his brother, smirking. "…_Back…_" Itachi drawled. A vein popped on Sasuke's forehead. "Yes we're _back_ nii-san." He mimicked. "For your information we were only lost in the woods." Sasuke then glared at Sakura, who hid behind Mikoto's back. To Mikoto's greatest disappointment, "oh you were just lost?" She looked bewildered.

Sakura blinked, completely ignorant.

Sasuke's cheeks turned deep shade of red. "Yes mother." He said through gritted teeth. "I'm not like _you_ brother." He threw the weasel a very nasty look. Itachi grinned. "Anyone want to look at my poor leg?" He finally asked, demanding.

"I will!" Sakura offered, wiping the sweat off her face. Sasuke stared. "Oh, no thanks, I don't want to break another leg." Sakura's jaw dropped, her cheeks burning, she looked highly offended. "Excuse _me_. I don't break people's legs!" She huffed, and flopped down beside Itachi. He laughed at her indignance.

Mikoto sighed as she took care of his 'poor leg'.

"How was _it_? Was _it_ so energetic you broke your leg from the exertion?" Itachi asked innocently, flipping more pages of the book, his eidetic memory picking it all up..

Sasuke sat up so quickly that he could almost stand. For a few moments he stood, glaring at his brother. Mikoto grabbed Sasuke's arm and pulled him down. "I'm not finished." She chided, shaking her head, smiling secretly to herself. Sasuke scowled and sat down. Sakura beside him looked hurt and muttered something under her breath. Sasuke sighed, a rare soft expression gracing his features. He placed his hand on top of Sakura's head. "Thank you… He whispered softly, to the astonishment of Mikoto and Itachi, who promptly dropped the heavy tome from shock to reveal a hidden camera.

That night everyone could hear Mikoto's squeals and shrieks, while Sasuke managed to chase Itachi around the house, demanding he return the tape. Fugaku relaxed in the Hot Springs, blissfully unaware. Ino and Tenten played cards with Sakura while the pink haired girl related the incident to their eager ears.

(Even later, Itachi begrudgingly (finally) paid Ino).

**_To be continued… _**

lxl

**Authoress's Note: **Ugh… I think I did bad… What do you people think? –looks hopeful- Anyway, please review! That makes me happy :D See you all in next chapter! Cheers!


	10. Him and Her

**She will be Loved**

**Authoress's Notes: **Ugh, the last chapter sucked. Sorry about that and thanks for the reviews -.- This is chapter 10, enjoy.

**Co written with Earthborne  
**I feel dead. (Edit: 1st of June. Cor, I've been re-reading this and realised how pessimistic I made Sasuke sound. o.o) 

Fic based onto Mischievous Kiss by Kaoru Tada.

**Disclaimer: **Not mine!

Chapter ten: Him and her

lxl

Sakura still couldn't forget what had happened between her and Sasuke a few months ago. She sighed, in daze. _They had fun. _Sakura glanced at her three friends chatting away merrily. Huffing, she stood up and threw the empty can of coke in the bin. When Sakura finally sat down, Ino poked her on the arm. "Ow!" She protested loudly, rubbing her arm while glaring at her best friend.

Ino grinned. "So you mean to tell us, that even though you guys had the perfect chance to have – I mean, so you guys did _nothing_ that night?"

"NO." Sakura snapped; she could feel her cheeks warming; of all the conversations and innuendoes her friend could come up with! Truly, Ino did have her mind in the gutter.

The blonde sighed, pulling a face. "You honestly missed your opportunity… I mean you two were alone…" Sakura's jaw dropped. "I'm not some promiscuous girl!" She practically shrieked. "You. Can. Do. That. To. Shikamaru!" She gritted her teeth, folding her arms across her chest. It was Ino's turn to blush and stammer. "I-I don't want to do those sort of things with Shikamaru!"

"Yes you do!" Sakura crowed, sensing victory. Ironically enough, Shikamaru was just as much as Ino's soft spot as the blonde was for him. And Sakura had thought she would never see the day when Yamanaka Ino would have a weakness. Miracles DO happen! Now if only she can get Sasuke to melt…

"No I do _not_."

"Oh shut up both of you." Came Tenten's impatient, but amused snap. Hinata, who was sitting besides the Chinese girl, fidgeted, and blushed madly. "Look! You banshees scared poor Hinata!" The brunette scowled. Sakura was about to turn around to say something but was sadly (and loudly) interrupted by Naruto's loud voice. "Uh oh." Ino muttered under her breath.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto jumped to the seat next to Sakura and she smiled at him, but sat a bit further away, not that Naruto noticed. Hinata looked like she was about to combust when she saw Naruto right across from her. If she reached a hand out right now, she would be able to touch the sleeves of his shirt! Sakura watched Hinata's reaction to the blond and seemed to know what she was thinking. Girl, you've got it BAD

"Great news!" He said quickly, nearly biting off his own tongue in his haste to get the words out. She in return, blinked, completely puzzled.

"Sasuke-teme is going to move out!" The blond boy said happily, jumping up and down. All three faces stared at him, shocked (Hinata was too dazed). Sakura was just about to pummel Naruto for calling her beloved Sasuke 'teme' when the latter of his sentence caught up with her.

"WHAT! When! Where! How do you know he's moving out?" Sakura asked, taking Naruto's shoulders and shook them, making the boy's teeth clack and gave him the MEANEST whiplash ever, ignoring that the fact people were staring. Ino looked around, she pulled Sakura's jumper. "Oi, sit down, people are staring."

Sakura ignored Ino, much to the blonde girl's chagrin. "Naruto, who told you that?" She could almost feel her heart beating a tattoo against her chest.

"I heard Sasuke mentioning something about moving out to Shika." Naruto said weakly, after being shaken by her a few times. "Sakura-chan, isn't it good that he's moving out?" His eyes were still crossed. Hinata quietly asked if he was okay, in which he exuberantly and enthusiastically replied "Yes!"

Sakura didn't answer and let her hands slip away from Naruto's shoulders, denial and a strange sense of betrayal and abandonment washing over her. "Sakura!" Ino called after her. But she was already gone.

lxl

"Sakura, can you please take those clothes up to Sasuke's room? I'm busy making chocolate chip cookies here." Mikoto called from the kitchen. Sakura quickly called out a 'yes' and slowly, she dragged herself upstairs, a basketful of Sasuke's (black, surprisingly) clothing in her arms. She knocked on the door several times before she turned the knob awkwardly, and pushed the door open. Luckily for her, he wasn't there.

She sighed in relief, dumping the pile of clothes onto his bed. But she couldn't help noticing the papers strewn all over his usually neat and spotless desk (indeed, he was nigh religious on keeping his working area clean). Sakura gasped when she saw the circles of jobs on the sheets of newspaper. She felt hurt and sad. Why didn't he tell her? He never mentioned a thing to her. Sakura bit her lower lip hard. Then again, why the hell would he? If he hadn't even informed his parents, why tell her? They weren't even an item or anything.

"What are you doing?" a clipped voice from behind stopped her from snooping.

"S-Sasuke-kun!" She said weakly, as she spun around to face him, her mind already shifting into autopilot, plastering a smile on her face and an apology or compliment on her lips.

"Don't barge into other people's rooms without permission." He snapped, yanking her away from the desk. She was barely aware of the pain, even though she was sure it would leave a faint bruise on her pale skin.

"I was helping your mother putting the clothes onto your bed." Her voice was flat. She felt oddly distant, as if her mouth was moving on it's own. This… this whole leaving home thing, didn't it mean that he was truly leaving her behind? Not as if they were even anything to begin with, but then, it was all just part of the what-ifs and maybes that always seemed to be lurking in her soap opera life.

Didn't it mean that Sasuke was finally independent and was discarding the childish games that he seemed to be so sick of in this house? He never liked the way Mikoto plotted and schemed to get her fairy tale endings, he respected his father, but he was nearly always away from home because of work. And Itachi – well, the only reason that Itachi was alive was because it was illegal to kill him. Sasuke never minded her father, she knew. So that left her, the tagalong, the one who clung to him so stubbornly all the time, who nagged him, blackmailed him, cried all the time and perhaps Sasuke only tolerated her because he was humoring her, because sooner or later, he was going to leave anyway. She wondered why she was being enlightened now.

"Oh thanks." Sasuke said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"Are you really moving out?" She blurted, before she could stop herself.

"Yes." He said firmly, without a second's hesitation. Heh, trust him to be ready for any and all questions.

"Were you ever going to tell me by yourself?" She asked, closing her eyes briefly and opening them, desperately trying to ignore the all-too-familiar and hated prickling of her eyes.

"No. I was just planning to tell everyone later. Why? Were you hoping that I would single you out and tell you in private, just so you can feel special?" He sneered at her slightly before going to his bed and rummaging around the black pile. She would never know how he always saw through her insecurities and wouldn't mind using his advantage to deal a low but devastating blow. He turned around, holding a limp, simple black shirt in his hands. "For god's sake woman, stop crying!"

"I'm _not_ crying." She said quietly, and felt a flicker of pride when her voice didn't break or waver. She forced her tears back and swallowed the bile that seemed to have crawled up her throat.

"Good," He said callously, "now get out of my room, I need to change." And with that, he pushed her roughly outside into the chilly hallway and slammed the door in her face, her last glimpse of his features being a strange expression, his eyes clouded. Looking back, the closest name she could pin that expression with was regret, but that was ridiculous. Sasuke was a cold, heartless bastard. Guilt and regret didn't belong in his vocabulary, unless it was to judge someone else.

lxl

That night as the family sat down in the living room after a silent affair at the dining table, Sasuke told them the news in a solemn but determined tone. Mikoto couldn't stop crying, while Itachi looked like he was halfway between amusement and disappointment. Fugaku took everything in seriously, and quietly discussed the situation with Sasuke. When the patriarch was satisfied that his second-born son wasn't making a foolish decision, he gave the teenager his grunted blessing. The day after that, Sasuke left without fanfare before Sakura had time to say goodbye to him, and he gave no address as to where he was, just a reassurance that he would call him and let them know that he wasn't dead.

Naruto on the other hand was very happy that Sasuke had moved out of the house, to whereabouts unknown. It meant that Sakura wouldn't be so hell-bent on following Sasuke-teme around! And it was for exactly the same reason that Sakura was more unhappy than usual. The only times she saw Sasuke was at school, where he avoided her like the plague and ignored everything and everyone else around him, again.

"You know, you're really, _really_ weird these days…" Ino said, sitting down beside her; it was English class and the teacher had just decided to give them some free time. Sakura mumbled something and buried her face into her arms.

Tenten sighed. "Must Sasuke-san be moving out?" She snapped her _Pride and Prejudice _book shut. Ino's jaw dropped and Sakura twitched. "You're serious? He hasn't come back to the family with his tail between his legs?" Sakura mumbled quietly, "He's already left the house."

Ino glanced over at Sasuke on the other side of the classroom; he seemed to be looking at his notes. "He wants a job that's why." Sakura replied, still looking exhausted.

"What for? His family's rich enough." Ino rolled her eyes, opened a jar of caviar and dug into it. Sakura rolled her eyes at the blonde heiress.

"I know where he works." A bored voice said behind them and took a seat next to Sakura. She turned around and faced Shikamaru, with his usual scowl.

"Shika!" Ino said, surprised he'd come to talk to them. Usually he would be lounging besides the windows, either sleeping or watching the clouds (or Ino, much to the blonde's embarrassment). He gave Ino a slow, lazy smile, and Sakura caught Ino blushing furiously; the pink haired girl couldn't help but smile. It was cute seeing her best friend getting embarrassed over such a little thing as a smile. Then, considering it was _Shikamaru_, who considered facial expressions troublesome, it was amazing that the muscles in his face haven't atrophied already. She nearly forgot what Shikamaru was saying a few minutes ago.

"You want to know where Sasuke-san works?" Shikamaru asked Sakura, glancing over at the dark haired boy across the classroom. Sakura sat up so quickly that her chair fell backwards with a loud crash. She clasped Shikamaru's hands. "Y-You know?" Her eyes sparkled with hope. Shika looked startled. "Er yea, I saw him working there yesterday…" He said uneasily, glancing over at Ino as if to ask whether Sakura was okay and if this was normal behaviour. Ino nodded.

"_Where_?" Sakura's grip was like an anaconda's. Shikamaru extricated his mashed paw with some difficulty, and agreed to take Sakura there on the condition that she treat him with food. Sakura promised without a second's hesitation.

_After school…_

"Are you sure you saw Sasuke-kun here the other day?" Sakura asked after walking for 15 minutes. Shikamaru snorted. "Of course I am. There's only one person who can pull off having that ridiculous haircut and still look cool." Sakura sighed with relief. _What if he tells me to go away? _She thought gloomily. _Maybe he hates me after all… but why did he save me last time? Humph, maybe because he'll get in trouble with otou-san that's why_. _Why did I fall in love with a boy like him? _She clenched her fists tightly, and cursed fate for dealing her this difficult hand.

"Oh there it is." Shikamaru interrupted her thoughts. Sakura looked up at the cafeteria. Her jaw dropped. "So this is where he works?" The huge label of white with pink background named _Danny's. _"I'd never imagine him working here…" She mumbled under her breath. Shikamaru shrugged and pushed open the door.

The lazy genius blinked in surprise as they entered. "There are so many…" His voice trailed off.

"…Girls." Sakura completed for him, her jaw open and an invitation for unsavory bugs to fly in.

"Whoa, Sasuke sure is popular." Shikamaru smirked, finding a table to sit down, which was quite difficult.

"Why are there so many female customers?" Sakura gritted her teeth.

"Isn't it obvious?" Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Because Sasuke is working here." Sakura looked homicidal when more girls rushed in to squeal at the 'oh-my-gawd-he's-SOOO-good-looking-it-has-to-be-illegal' waiter.

"Get me a cup of milk ice cream." Shikamaru said, grinning at her. Her jaw dropped again. "You have mood to _eat_? It's like a damn zoo here!" Her voice was so loud that the waitress looked almost scared.

"Hey you said you'd buy me food…" Sakura opened her mouth angrily to snap at him but a low voice behind them spoke. "May I take your order?" Sakura nearly gasped when she turned around and faced Sasuke. He frowned and gave her a 'what-the-hell-are-you-doing-here-I-thought-I-got-rid-of-you?' look.

Sakura was speechless, her expression was priceless, and Sasuke sighed. "I knew you'd come." He scolded in a resigned voice as he wrote down Shika's order.

"I-I just…" Sakura stammered. Shikamaru smirked besides her, interested in what was to happen.

"Wanted to see me? Couldn't resist my charms?" Sasuke said smugly. The smirk slid off Shikamaru's face as the lazy genius almost gagged. Ego much, Sasuke-san?

"Ye-NO!" Sakura lied, flushing slightly. "I just came here because Shikamaru said it's nice here! Right?" She turned her head to give the boy besides her a meaningful glare.

Shikamaru's eyebrow twitched. "Err. Yeah." He looked almost happy when the ice cream arrived. The waitress walked back, but not before giving Sasuke a flirtatious eye and brushing past him. He surprisingly, took no notice at all, his eyes trained on Sakura. "Aren't you clever, finding me so _easily_." His lips curled. Sakura looked uneasy. "I uh…" She couldn't help noticing the girls sitting across them – no the girls in the whole _cafeteria_ giving her The Evil Glares. She shuddered and blocked the hostility from her mind.

Sasuke sighed. "Do you want to order anything or not?" His eyes showed great annoyance. Sakura glared back at him. "You should really do something about those _girls_ over there!" She gritted her teeth.

"Oh?" Sasuke raised his perfectly shaped eyebrow. "They are the customers. _I _can't do anything about them." The pink haired girl's jaw dropped. "You know perfectly well that they're here because of _you_!" Sasuke snorted. "Nonsense."

Sakura couldn't believe her ears. "Arrogant ass." She mumbled under her breath. Sasuke took no notice. "Hurry up and order." He snapped, brushing his bangs aside with an expert flick of his fingers. A girl behind Sakura, who had seen the full effect of Sexy Sasuke (copyright) had a nosebleed and promptly fainted dead away.

"Honestly! Do these people come here to _eat_ or to look at _you_?" Sakura practically screamed her face red. The girls behind her weren't complaining about the food, but Sasuke was just a bonus.

Sasuke smirked. "Am I that beautiful now?"

_Yes_. "No." Sakura mumbled. "Give me a cup of coffee." She huffed, giving Shikamaru a glare, as he had finished his 2nd cup of ice cream, and was now ordering for some other food. "Since when did you eat so much?" She hissed. Shika shrugged. "It _is_ free. Chouji taught me to never waste an opportunity for free food."

Sasuke came back with a cup of coffee. "Drink it and you can leave." He glared down at her for the last time before making his way to the entrance, welcoming more _female_ guests. Sakura clenched her fists, her glare nearly knocking the girls down like ten-pins. Feeling a little vindictive, she deliberately said, "I would like to see Ino coming here!" Shikamaru froze, stopped eating for a second, and brought his head up to stare at Sakura, who crossed her arms over her flat (cough) chest.

"Ino wouldn't do that." Shikamaru said, clearly bewildered. Sakura rested her chin on her palm. "Oh you never know. I mean Sasuke-kun _is_ good enough for her." Shikamaru narrowed his eyes. "You're just saying it to make me mad."

"You think?" Sakura smirked. The genius glared, and then glanced back at Sasuke. "What are you going to do with him?" Shikamaru watched with growing alarm at an elderly lady placing an order for tea from Sasuke, with a twinkle in her eyes that was definitely _not_ maternal.

"How am I supposed to know?" The pink haired girl gritted her teeth, hissing. "I just can't stand all those stupid fangirls _pressing_ their scantily clad bodies against him!" She banged her other fist onto the table, nearly upsetting the lukewarm coffee cup, not that she actually noticed. Shika winced. "Oi, oi…" His brows furrowed together, shifting his ice cream away.

She seethed, rising from the seat and marched towards Sasuke. Shikamaru blinked, now very alarmed. "Oi, _Haruno_, I really don't think-"

Sakura grabbed Sasuke's arm and dragged him outside the shop, and all the girls whined like dogs, as if their favorite chew-toy had been taken away.

"-That's such a good idea..." Shikamaru finished lamely, staring at the two.

"What do you think you're doing?" Sasuke yelled, jerking his arm away from Sakura's grip and glaring at the equally mad girl.

"They are honestly _crawling _all over you!" The shorter girl yelled back, cheeks red, stamping her foot repeatedly. Sasuke snorted. "They are customers Sakura! You expect me to say 'go away, I'm not your property?'"

_Yes_! Inner Sakura screamed. "_NO_, but I expect you to at least have some sense of propriety and ethics! For god's sake there was a girl in there that looked almost _seven_!" She glared, fuming, folding her arms across her chest. And one almost seventy, she thought, but didn't mention.

"…Excuse me I need to work." The genius said coldly, and pushed open the door. Sakura could hear the girl's screams when he entered. A vein popped on her forehead. She inhaled deeply as she pushed the door roughly, and nearly giving the guy behind it a concussion. Shikamaru sweat-dropped. Oh Sakura was jealous alright, and no wonder, her eyes _were_ green after all. She eyed the spork in his hand, and he had no doubt that she wanted to do something with it to those girls, probably in a very bloody, angry way.

She stormed towards Sasuke. He winced. "What do you want _now_? Can't you see I'm busy?" He tapped the notebook with his pen in annoyance.

"Ordering food perhaps would be the best way to put it?" Sakura said rather coldly, sending death glares at the fangirls.

Murmurs.

"Who does she think she is? Speaking to him in that insolent way."

"His girlfriend? Hah I think not, with that plain face of hers!"

"Sister? But her hair is too _pink_."

"I'd cry if they're going out!"

Sakura coughed loudly, ignoring them. "…I'm ordering for the family not for me!" She hissed, and pouted like a petulant child. "I know, you pink haired abomination. Now go sit down while I prepare it." Sakura mumbled something under her breath and made her way back to Shikamaru, who was sitting silently at the table, looking really bored. She couldn't help noticing a few girls giggling and glancing his way, apparently liking what they saw. Too bad he didn't notice, and wouldn't give them the light of day even if he did. She sighed as she took a seat beside him.

"What did you actually do?" Shika asked her, his eyebrows slightly raised.

"Nothing." Sakura admitted, playing innocent. He scowled. "Nothing alright, shouting in the middle of the streets and generally making a ruckus, destroying the peace of the world and my eardrums." She glared at him, and he pretended to look the other way.

A bag was dropped onto the table. Shikamaru merely smiled a knowing smile. Sakura jumped back in surprise. "S-Sasuke-kun!" She squeaked, totally hopeless. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going back to work." He then glared at Shikamaru for good measure (Shikamaru felt that it was a bit unfair, seeing as he didn't DO anything to Sasuke and he certainly wasn't on a date with Sakura, since Sasuke knew he was with Ino) before stalking off.

lxl

Sure Haruno Sakura had loads of patience, she waited for two whole hours for Sasuke to finish work. Finally, he came out of the shop, looking slightly tired and turned left. Sakura sniggered to herself, and decided to follow him. (Stalking is it? No, she preferred the term 'Selective Following.') But to her horror, Yura appeared out of _nowhere_, giggling in that inane way like she usually did as one of her hands clutched at his cloak. Sasuke looked annoyed of course. The girl told him something that made him look surprised. He sighed and then let Yura tag along.

Sakura gasped, falling to her knees. Does this mean anything?

**_To be continued…_**

lxl

**Authoress's Notes: **Is it bad? Oh god, I have no confidence anymore T.T Please review! Don't hesitate and press the 'Go' button! See you all in next chapter!

**Earthborne:** Argh… concrit is greatly appreciated.

Review Button: Rawr! Feed meh!


	11. Misunderstandings

**She will be Loved**

**Authoress's Notes: **Thank you for the reviews!! They are wonderful as usual. I seriously need Korean Drama right now! Anyway enjoy this is chapter 11! Currently obsessed with Korean Dramas! O.O Oh I love Kim Jung Hoon, HE'S SO CUTE!!!

And sorry for the late update!

**Co-written with Earthborne**

I suck as a co-writer. I adore thee, oh faithful fans! Review please!

Fic based onto Mischievous Kiss by Kaoru Tada.

**Disclaimer: **Don't own Naruto!!

Chapter eleven: Misunderstandings

lxl

Sakura sat silently in history class, tapping her pencil against the table. She had started to become more and more distracted ever since she saw Sasuke walking home with Yura. She hissed suddenly, remembering the way that Yura the slut plastered herself all over Sasuke, causing the girl sitting beside her to jump with alarm. Sakura didn't even notice. Ino, who sat behind Sakura raised one perfectly shaped eyebrow. The pink haired girl didn't seem to realize that the teacher was calling her.

"Haruno-san!" The History teacher tapped her finger on her forehead. Sakura's eyes widened with surprise and looked up, her mouth hanging open and her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. The older female's eyebrows furrowed together; Sakura was usually very attentive in class. "Haruno-san, you're daydreaming I presume?"

Sakura opened her mouth to speak.

The teacher's heels drummed impatiently. "I told you to read line 36 in page 231 did you hear me? Never mind now, I'll get someone else to read it."

"Y-Yes sensei." Sakura bowed her head, her voice quiet. The teacher told her to pay attention and turned back to the blackboard. She could hear some sniggers at the back. Ino poked her on the back.

"OW!" Sakura protested as hard point of the pencil made contact with her back. She hissed as she turned around and glared at her best friend. Ino stuck her tongue out mischievously. "Sorry." Sakura rubbed her back. "What?" She whispered then turning back again as the teacher spun around.

"You're acting strange these days Sakura." Ino said as the teacher suspiciously turned back again. The female in front blinked. "Huh?" She said, puzzled.

"Ok you're kind of weird sometimes but today you're really, really…_weird_." Ino said slowly, making her words slow and clear, as if Sakura was some two-year-old. Sakura glared. "Thanks a lot Ino." Hinata, who sat besides to Ino half smiled, used to their friendly banter.

"Is it about…" Ino glanced sideways conspicuously. "Sasuke?" She lowered her voice. Sakura swallowed and turned back to her desk, which more or less guaranteed the answer.

"Ah! I _knew_ it!!" Ino shrieked triumphantly. The whole class jumped. Sakura spun around looking murderous.

The blonde girl blinked. "Oops. Hehe."

"Yamanaka, Haruno. _Out_." The teacher said calmly, pointing a finger out the door.

Once the door slid shut behind them, Ino grabbed Sakura's hand and pulled her hard around the corner. Sakura yelped. "Can you stop being so violent all the time?" She complained. "I'm going to be handicapped someday!" She huffed.

Ino muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, "Like you aren't already?" Then in a louder tone, "Tell me what happened!"

Sakura looked up. "You know the whole class can see us." She said in monotone, eyeing the class behind the piece of glass. Ino shrugged, she's not one to be deterred by a roomful of prying eyes. "So?"

"Oh you don't care about _anything_!" Sakura groaned, staring at her friend.

"Who gives? It's not like they could hear us." Ino rolled her eyes. Sakura sighed, finally giving in. "You know…he has a job right? So I visited him with Shikamaru…" Ino nodded eagerly. "Oh I know that already!"

"After work… I saw him with Yura, she seemed to be going home with _him_." She said quietly, her eyes began to water. "There's no way I can like him if his taste in women is that bad!" Ino shrieked again, gripping her by the shoulders. "YOU SERIOUS??" She bellowed into Sakura's face. The whole class was staring.

"Pig-chan! _They are staring at us._" Sakura gritted her teeth, and tried to act as if nothing had happened. "If I get a detention. You. Are. Dead."

They stopped when the teacher slid the door open with a loud bang, shaking the entire doorframe. Sakura was so busy being scolded by the teacher to notice Sasuke looking her from the corner of his eye.

lxl

For days, Sakura didn't go to _Danny's_ at all. She hardly smiled at anyone, talked only when necessary, and had bags under her eyes. Naruto tried to bug Sakura about a date, but after one intense glare and getting yelled at, he quit. Sasuke found it really strange that she didn't try to ask him questions in classes anymore like she usually did.

"Really, Sakura is acting so strange these days." Shikamaru commented at lunchtime, yawning loudly as he stretched. Sasuke frowned. "Maybe she stopped liking you…" The prodigy suggested.

"Maybe Sakura-chan will start liking _me_." Naruto randomly interrupted the conversation, giving Sasuke a death glare, which was returned tenfold. The raven-haired boy stood up, causing Naruto to jump back into a fighting stance. "What? You want to fight me?"

Shikamaru heaved a sigh, "How troublesome." He muttered. A smirk spread across Sasuke's handsome features. "Dobe." His lips curled.

"Wh-What did you just call me you idiot??" Naruto yelled angrily, raising a fist. The taller boy ignored the blond and swept pass him. Naruto stared at his retreating back. "That's right, walk away!" He crowed, and the crowd booed him.

Opposite of the room Ino sighed anxiously, sneaking a look at Sakura, who was resting with her head on the table. "She's still upset over what she saw?" Tenten said quietly to Ino. The blonde's left brow twitched. "God knows what happened between Sasuke and that Yura." She grumbled, totally irked at the Uchiha.

The brunette shuddered. "How about we follow Sasuke after school? He has work then-" Her voice trailed off, eyes widening when Sasuke approached Sakura. Her head still on the table, she didn't even realize.

He placed a hand onto her desk. "Sakura." Her eyes were the size of two plates as she slowly brought her head up. Her jaw dropped. Sasuke sighed, narrowing his eyes at the sight of her friends gaping at them. "You haven't come to the café for ages." It came out like almost petulantly. Sakura staggered backwards, her eyes still the size of two plates. "I-I've been busy for the past days…" She finally found her voice again. Her best friend's eyebrows rose, who was sitting beside her.

Sasuke frowned, looking slightly impatient. Sakura rose from her seat before he could speak. "I uhh have to go to a meeting!" She rushed out of the cafeteria; he didn't catch the hurt in her eyes.

He stared at her back, looking pissed.

"You don't understand do you?" Came Ino's indignant snap, Sasuke turned his head and the other males ran for cover; when Ino's voice took that kind of tone, someone's head rolled. "What?" He asked, clearly confused. Ino sighed furiously, as if Sasuke didn't understand that she was trying to tell him one plus one equaled two. She crossed her arms. "If you're so _smart_." She rolled her eyes. "How in the world have you not figured this out already?"

Sasuke frowned. "What the hell are you trying to say?"

Ino sighed again; she slammed her palm onto the desk, and with his clever instincts, Sasuke backed away. "Look here you idiot, _you're_ the problem!" The whole cafeteria _stared_. Shikamaru lay back in his seat, enjoying the fact that for once, it wasn't him in Sasuke's position.

"_What_?" Sasuke hissed, narrowing his eyes.

"I thought you weren't interested in girls, fine I was wrong. But honestly, I thought you were smarter than that, why would you go out with _her_? She's such a…" Ino paused, searching for the right words, or perhaps, making a list of all the words to describe Yura.

"I don't have a bloody girlfriend." Sasuke said coldly, and not without a trace of irritation.

"She's a—_what_?" Ino choked on her words (which were better left unsaid anyway. Ino was not known for her polite words). "But Yura!" Her eyes widened at this new piece of information.

Sasuke mumbled something under his breath that sounded like a string of curses and left the classroom leaving Ino behind gaping at him.

lxl

Sakura sighed as the bell rang behind her. The students ran past her, girls squealing as they caught up to their boyfriends, linking arms. "I must give up on him." She mumbled to herself, swinging her bag behind her backwards and forwards. "He doesn't deserve me at all, that… that idiot!" She kicked the pole next to her. Not a very wise decision, considering poles do not like being kicked and protested so, by not giving way when her toes made contact. She 'owed!' in pain.

Bending down to see if her toes were damaged beyond repair, she cursed quietly to herself and blamed everything on Sasuke.

"I should look for a guy who would treasure me." She said to herself, rising from the ground. "Someone who actually gives a stuff about what I say, what I do, and will stay by me through tough times." She strolled around the school, picking up potential candidates; oh, that's a nice one! Oh wait, he's gay, my bad. There! Oh crap that's a girl!" She was just about to give up when she noticed a boy standing by the school gate. "Hmmm… That one's definitely good." By the time she walked up to him, she realized who it was. Her mouth went dry and she mentally kicked herself with her non-injured toe.

The boy turned his head, his eyes widening when he saw Sakura standing there. Of course it _had_ to be _him_.

"What are you still doing here?" Sasuke asked her, staring hard at her, eyebrows slightly raised. It took nearly a minute for Sakura to reply; she was in a daze, a stupor from being so close to him after days of avoiding the sociopath. "I-It's not like you o-own this place…" Oh no, she's becoming Hinata. "And what are you doing here?"

"Waiting for someone." His voice was flat as he leaned against the railing of the school gate, hands in his pockets. The words hit Sakura like a forty-ton cement truck. "I-I…see." Her voice was soft.

"Not Yura." Sasuke amended almost consolingly, glancing down at her. Sakura blinked, immediately raised her head and stared at him.

He sighed, before he could say anything a loud yell was heard.

"Uchiha-_sensei_!!"

Sakura's jaw dropped as a girl in Junior High School uniform ran in front of him, smiling, and a tinge of blush dusted on her cheeks. She had a long, black ponytail swishing behind her back.

"Sorry for the wait!" She chirped, batting her gorgeous long lashes at him.

Sasuke mumbled something like "Not at all."

"Who's she?" Sakura asked rather loudly, her female hackles rising. The shorter female whipped around, eyeing Sakura up and down. "Your sister Uchiha-sensei?" Her voice was forcibly high, and childishly cute, but the effect was ruined when her frosty words came out with a sneer.

"No." Sasuke replied, looking nauseated. "If she's my sister, she wouldn't have _pink_ hair." His lips curled into a sneer too. Sakura glared at him. "Who's she?"

"I'm her Maths tutor." Sasuke replied slowly. The pink haired girl's jaw dropped again. "_What_? You're a _tutor_?" The girl looked smug, a wide grin spread across her face. "It's not that big a deal, Sakura." Sasuke replied, "It's good money and I've tutored _you_ before too." The words "Free of charge." Was added very quietly. The young girl's cocky features slipped for a second, and her true colors were shown for a brief second. Sakura did NOT like what she saw.

"I'm Yura's sister, Misa." The girl finally said. Sakura stared at her, hard. The raven-haired boy sighed. "That's why I went to Yura's house the other day." He explained, like – like he was defending himself! The happiest smile bloomed on her face, lighting her face up; Sasuke actually looked embarrassed for a bit before he looked at the ground and in a show of extreme will power, forced his blush away.

She blinked. "So-So…you're not…" Her voice trailed off.

"…No." Sasuke looked disgusted, narrowing his eyes. "Who gave you that idea?? Yamanaka??"

"Ye-No!" The girl blushed. "Of course not…" _Well she did enforce it._

"Come on let's go." Sasuke muttered, walking away, with Misa squealing besides him. As Sasuke and her turned the corner Sakura jumped with joy, tears of happiness rolling down her cheeks.

lxl

Sakura seemed have to become happier these days, Mikoto mused to herself, very happy at the return of the bouncy, bubbly Sakura. The best time of the year has come; no one would miss out Valentine's Day, especially for Haruno Sakura! Lady Uchiha of course supported Sakura, she nearly took out her pom-poms to cheer her on, but Fugaku stopped her, on account that she was no longer a teenage cheerleading girl, even if he did love that short skirt on her when they were in Highschool. Itachi made a horrid face when his mother threw herself into Fugaku's arm with a girly giggle; Itachi made a dash for the front doors.

Later on, Mikoto was delighted when Sakura complimented her on her homemade chocolates, and encouraged her to eat more. This equaled a very sick Sakura later on, who was just then beginning to discover the horrors of getting sick on sweets.

"I told you not to eat so many at once." Soichiro scolded his daughter. Sakura just finished her second cup of warm water, lowered her head, the blush creeping up her cheeks. "Sorry father." She mumbled. "But I'm alright…"

Mikoto laughed merrily. "Don't worry, I'm sure she'll be alright! The thing you'll be thinking about is _making chocolates_!" She smiled, putting the trays away. Fugaku sighed softly. "I think you gave her too much sweets Mikoto." His wife's glare silenced him. Fugaku coughed and went back reading his newspaper. Itachi (who crept back an hour before) snickered through his coffee.

"Mother, remember when Sasuke was six and he stole into the kitchen and gorged himself on all the chocolate you made? And how sick he was the next day?" Itachi drawled, and it sparked off another round of memories, with the Uchiha family sharing all the embarrassing things Sasuke used to do. Sakura listened with irrepressible glee.

As Sakura made way to _Danny's_ with a box of beautifully decorated chocolates, she noticed mountains of girls running to the shop where Sasuke worked. She clenched her fists. _Rivals! Shannaro!_ Inner Sakura screamed, and pantomimed chasing all the girls away with a flame-thrower.

She slowly pushed the door open, bowing slightly when she found a free table. A tray slid besides Sakura when she was about to sit down. "Hello Sakura." A snobby voice said. Sakura turned her head, and got hit by a huge wave of perfume. _Yura_ she thought, gritting her teeth, fighting the nausea and the edges of black at her vision _need… air!_ She choked inside.

"I see…you're giving him chocolates?" Yura peered down, noticing the box she was holding. The pink haired girl could feel herself getting angrier. "Yes, and it's none of your concern." She said coldly, standing up, about to leave.

"Sasuke-kun is at _my_ house." Yura said smugly, examining her nails. A vein popped on Sakura's head, her head snapped around again. "Tutoring Misa." Yura added, huffing. "You met that little bitchy monster right? Moving on to Sasuke when she _knows_ he's only got the hots for me."

"…" Said Sakura, not believing how anyone can delude themselves so much.

A loud scream was heard, drowning out Yura's voice. Sakura covered her ears, eyes widening as Sasuke came out of the kitchen holding two plates. He looked absolutely annoyed, and not a little bit murderous. Sakura glared at Yura, who looked pissed, her plan ruined completely.

"Is this some kind of _concert_ or a café??" Sakura shouted over all the noises.

When the squealing quieted down a bit, Yura crossed her arms, making her boobs look larger than usual, plus she was wearing a boob tube. Sakura winced at the disgusting sight, not sure why Yura felt the need to give herself a breast augmentation for a decidedly uninterested audience. "You should give up on _my _Sasuke-kun."

Sakura's jaw dropped. "Excuse me, since when did he become yours??"

"Oh, since _forever_. And anyway, giving him _chocolates_ for Valentine's Day? That's so unoriginal."

"Oh yeah?" Sakura demanded hotly, "What're _you_ giving him then?"

"Myself of course." Yura said smugly. Sakura swooned at the audacity, her stomach clenched in pain.

"That's disgusting, you promiscuous whore!" Sakura exclaimed. Yura looked confused at the word 'promiscuous.' "Uh, whatever, large forehead."

"Yeah well--Don't call me a large forehead!" Sakura protested, looking outraged. With a painful cry, she sat down on the chair again. Her poor stomach was hurting again. She blamed herself for eating so many chocolates. Gritting her teeth, she stuffed the chocolate box inside her handbag. It began to snow outside.

Yura snorted, pretending not to notice Sakura's pain.

"I-I have to go the bathroom…" She groaned as she got up from her seat, heading to the ladies, which was difficult since there were so many people crowding around the counters. _Ugh, I should have eaten something besides chocolate… _She thought miserably.

Sasuke on the other hand had noticed Sakura sitting with Yura. He frowned when she went out of sight. He was about to ask where she was when someone shrieked. Sasuke sighed impatiently. _What now_

"Someone fainted!!" A girl screamed, looking scared. Sasuke had an ominous feeling. He pushed his way to the front of the crowd, his heart beating louder and louder in his ears. His eyes widened when he saw Sakura lying on the ground, a hand on top of her stomach, her face pale and creased in pain. He bent down and examined her carefully, placing a hand to sweaty forehead. He sighed in relief. "She only fainted." He had no choice but to pick her up. The girls screamed _loud_ as he picked her up in the 'bridal' way. Some fainted. He grunted in annoyance and pushed past the crowd to talk to the manager.

lxl

The snowfall was getting worse when he looked out of the window. He grumbled and looked over at the girl lying on his bed. "How troublesome." His eyebrow twitched. Shikamaru was rubbing off on him, god forbid. His fingers drummed on the desk, looking very impatient. His brows furrowed. Time ticked by slowly. Tick, tock, tick tock.

A loud shriek rang through the night, bounced off the atmosphere and into his ears; he flinched and glared at Sakura, who sat rigidly on the bed. "Where _am I_??" She asked shrilly, horrified. She began to pet herself down, apparently checking for injuries and – good lord – checking to see if her bra was still there.

"My apartment." Sasuke replied dully, a fierce blush threatening to flush his face. She whipped around, shoulders tensed, until she saw him clearly and relaxed.

"What am I doing here?" Sakura asked timidly, her eyes widening, her cheeks warming. She was in his apartment! So clean! So shiny!

"You fainted in the café. I had to take you here, what else can I do?" He snapped impatiently, reaching for his cellphone. Sakura rose. "You're not calling the ambulance are you?" She panicked. "I'm _fine_."

"I'm calling home you idiot." Sasuke glared at her.

"Oh." She backed down. And fiddled with the blankets while taking some time to look around his room. Neat, orderly, barely any personal effects besides some CDs and a laptop. The room lacked _warmth_. She looked back at Sasuke, sitting on his chair with the same cold aura.

He waited for a few seconds until Mikoto picked up the phone. "Mother, Sakura fainted in the café, can you pick her up now?" He spoke in a steady pace, his face expressionless. Sakura bit her bottom lip hard.

A very loud scream was heard on the other line, Sasuke had to hold his phone away from his abused ears. He swore under his breath, and put the receiver back to his ear. Among the somewhat coherent babbling, Sasuke actually managed to get a word in. "She's alright now."

"_Sasu-chan, you took her to your apartment?_"

"Yes mother."

Mikoto paused. Any idiot could tell she was plotting something. "_I'm sorry honey, it's snowing so hard…I'm afraid we can't come…_" Extra whine, with a dose of 'sincerity.' Fugaku paled; Itachi's eyebrows rose. Mikoto was a renowned actress back in her school days; she could manipulate anyone she wanted with her unrivaled acting skills.

Sasuke's face nearly turned purple. "_Mother_!"

"_Why not? It's not like you don't know her_." He could hear his mother on the line laugh.

"She can't stay in the apartment!" Sakura blinked. "What if she turned into some freaky stalker and steals something to put into her shrine!" Sometimes, the line between genius and paranoia blurred. Sakura spluttered in protest at the back, and attempted to throw a pillow at him.

Mikoto gave another tinkling laugh _"Oh dear, I'm sure the only thing she'll steal is your virginity."_

Sasuke was almost victim to multiple deaths, breaking world record. A stomach ulcer, cardiac arrest, popped vein; asphyxiation and just having his brain completely stop working.

"Mother, take her back!! I have work tomorrow!" He screeched almost desperately into the phone.

_Click_.

Sasuke was now shaking with rage. "I can't believe her…" He bit off ferociously through gritted teeth. And for a second Sakura would swear under oath that his eyes glowed red.

"Um, what did she say?" Sakura asked tentatively, walking towards him cautiously, like one would towards a rabid, feral animal. He turned around so quickly Sakura almost got whiplash just looking at him. "You have to spend the night here."

Sakura gaped at him.

**_To be continued…_**

lxl

**Authoress's Notes**: How was chapter 11? Hope you all like it!! Please review!! Thank you! See you all next chapter :3 Oh and, I'm thinking of making a fanfic livejournal, if anyone is interested or be bothered add me :o go to www dot cherry-arrow dot livejournal dot com I'll be using it soon!

**Co-authoress's notes:** Like, I have to study for exams soon. I'll have exams and then I'll need to recover from exams. Which would take a long time. But afterwards, I'm sure we would have managed to scrape together another chapter for you lovely, gorgeous fans.


	12. Birthday girl

**She will be Loved**

**Authoress's Notes: **HI!! FINALLY HOLIDAYS!! WOOHOO! And SO SORRY FOR THE LATE, LATE UPDATE! I went on a holiday with my parents and MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!! Thank you for the great, wonderful reviews! They're pleasurable to read as usual 8D; Anyway this is chapter 12 enjoy!

Fic based onto Mischievous Kiss by Kaoru Tada

**Co-written with Earthborne** :D

Meh, I need to exercise more. Concrit will be fully appreciated.

**Disclaimer: **Don't own Naruto!!

Chapter twelve: Birthday Girl

lxl

Sakura simply just stared at Sasuke, "_What_??" She shrieked, her hands tightening around the blanket. Sasuke sighed, his hands clenched into a tight fist. "Whatever. I only have one bed here. You take the bed I'll take the floor." The girl's jaw dropped. "Why do I have to stay for the n-night??" She stuttered, cheeks turning bright red.

Sasuke scowled. "Mother says it's snowing very hard."

"So??"

"So you can't go home tonight." He said impatiently, watching as her expression turned horrified. "B-But there's o-only… o-only…" She eyed the bed uneasily. Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Only one bed?" Sakura immediately turned redder.

"I'll take the floor, you take the bed." He repeated, scowling as he left the room. After a few minutes he returned with a pillow and a blanket. Her eyes widened as he laid himself on the ground. "What?" He snapped, catching her staring at him. "Aren't you cold sleeping on the _floor_?" She questioned.

"Of course I am." He snapped impatiently, turning his back to her and turning off the lamp. Sakura gasped as everything went black. "Are you ok?" She asked him timidly, lying on her back, staring at the pitch-black ceiling. He shuffled uncomfortably on the floor. "I'm fine." He replied tersely.

"Are you sure? Because I can swap with you if you want." She mumbled hesitatingly.

"And have you catch a cold? No thanks, I'll probably be charged with the duty of taking care of you."

"But – "

"Let it go, Sakura." He said bluntly. Silence, finally. He was just beginning to doze off when she spoke again. "Are you sure you're fine?" He growled before he threw off his covers and sat up, ignoring the biting chill. He turned and saw her viridian eyes wide and questioning in the semi-darkness.

"Move over." He demanded, and almost like a reflex, she shuttled over to the other side. He slid in between the familiar sheets, trying not to think about the warm body that had been lying there and the unquestionably feminine scent his blankets now carried. He gritted his teeth and turned on his side, away from Sakura's embarrassed expression. But she didn't say anything, though he knew she was bursting to. Finally, after noticing that she hadn't so much as twitched a muscle, he spoke. "Are you going to stare at my back forever or are you going to sleep?"

That caused her to blush harder. "No! That's not what I…" Her voice trailed off, burying her face into the sheets. He sighed. "Are you worried about spending a night with me?"

Sakura didn't reply; instead she shifted further away, and he suddenly missed the warmth, and oh god, he was NOT thinking about her curvy body against his.

"I won't do anything to you." The boy said grumpily a few minutes later, after controlling himself. "If I did I'd never hear the end of it from mother." Sakura blinked. Inside, that didn't make Sakura feel safer. "Is it because I'm not attractive??" She suddenly asked. Sasuke spun around. "_What_?" Utterly confused, because well, if his body had any say in it, it was quite the opposite. Sasuke was sure he had never been more exasperated with his hormones.

He heard a sob. _Shit._ His hormones sympathised.

"Are you disappointed or something? Because it's really pissing me off." Sasuke snapped, folding his arms across his chest defensively. "I'm not going to give mother the satisfaction that I'm doing some _weird_ stuff to you." Her sniffles got a bit louder. He silently cursed himself. "You're not unattractive okay?" Sakura instantly felt better, and she relaxed a little.

"O ok… I was beginning to think you were gay or something." She laughed, just a bit on the hysterical side. Sasuke suffered a silent apoplexy while he entered an apocalyptic fit. He wondered why he had even bothered to comfort her. "WHAT?!" He managed to gasp out, sitting up ramrod straight and staring at her incredulously. He lay back down almost immediately; her shirt had ridden up and was exposing too much of her stomach for him to be comfortable with. He shifted slightly, hoping she wouldn't notice his embarrassment.

Sakura shrugged. "You just always seemed to hate girls and you always reject their affections." Sasuke groaned and massaged his aching temples. "I'm straighter than a chopstick Sakura. And I don't hate all girls. I've put up with you so far, haven't I?" That made Sakura smile, even if it was a backhanded compliment. "Thank you." She mumbled quietly into her blanket, pouring all her sincerity into it. He had the feeling it wasn't entirely for what he'd said.

"Go to sleep already. We have school tomorrow." Was the short reply, but she heard the blush in his voice.

Sakura closed her eyes for a while, trying to calm her thumping heart. She wondered if he could hear it also, she didn't dare to turn around and face him. She inhaled deeply, pulling the sheets closer to her, nearly covering her face. Sasuke then realized she was a very, _very_ restless sleeper… Not that he had much sleep, because after Sakura dozed off, she stole all the blankets and snuggled up to him. Finally, after several attempts to grab the blankets (she put up a ferocious fight) he simply decided to sleep a bit closer, because after all, there's only the two of them right?

lxl

To be honest, Sakura only slept for a few hours that night… The thought of sharing the same bedroom with Uchiha Sasuke was a bit too much for her. She thought about the Sasuke fanclub as she quietly brushed her teeth with his spare toothbrush while Sasuke was outside getting changed (ahem). She imagined how Yura would have her neck if she find out about this. Groaning loudly, she wiped her mouth with the towel quickly, making the decision to never let this get out.

They hardly talked during the walk to their high school. Sakura avoided meeting his eyes as much as she could. Sasuke sighed in annoyance as he heard squeals of fangirls coming from the school, the shorter girl shifted uneasily beside him. He groaned silently as a girl with curls fainted as he walked pass her. Sakura rolled her eyes. Another girl swept pass her, bumping into her shoulder. "Ow…" Sakura complained, rubbing her shoulder and glancing back at the girl, who glared back and stalked away.

Then she noticed a huge crowd with an ambulance car parked beside it.

"…What happened?" Sakura quietly asked the boy next to her.

"Who the hell cares?" Sasuke muttered rudely. She gave him a piercing glare before she squeezed between the people and finally made it to the front. Gasping, she stared at the pale face of Naruto, lying pathetically on a stretcher. Her jaw dropped.

"_Naruto_?" She practically screamed into his face as she crouched down. "S-Sakura-chan…" He said weakly as he held one hand up, Sakura grabbed it, she was nearly in tears, Sasuke's eyebrow twitched.

"Are you hurt?"

Naruto shook his head and pointed to the school notice board, which was nearby. Sakura dropped his hand onto the snow. A shriek pierced through the crowd. Sasuke's eyes widened when he noticed the school news board. "Bloody hell." He cursed under his breath.

A _huge, huge_ picture of Sakura and Sasuke lying together in bed with a big heart printed onto it. Sasuke's arm was draped around her, and she was curled up against him with her head tucked under his chin. "No wonder the girls were giving me glares this morning…" She dropped to her knees to the cold snow, her face similar in colour to the icy stuff beneath her. She wondered if she could convince anyone that it was a composite.

Sasuke's face was now red from anger and he had a _slight_ idea who posted it up… Sakura bit her lips lightly, thinking that it was her that Sasuke was angry with. "Sorry!" She bowed deeply before she ran away into the crowd. He cursed and kicked the pole beside him causing him to yelp in pain. Then he spotted a person with sunglasses and a red scarf lurking in the back of the crowd.

He stomped to the person, grabbing her wrist. "Mother! It was you wasn't it." He crossed his arms across his chest, glaring down at his mother. The older woman sighed wistfully and took off her glasses. "I am _so_ disappointed in you!" She narrowed her eyes. "Spending a night with a gorgeous-" Sasuke coughed, wincing. "- you should really… have done something." She continued, pausing.

"Done… something." Sasuke repeated after his mother, narrowing his eyes. Lady Uchiha took out her hanky and wiped her tears on the corners of her eyes. Sasuke sighed, wondering why he put up with his mother and her ridiculous antics. Luckily for Mikoto, her son never gave a damn about gossip and so was unlikely to be affected by the rumours that were bound to be all over school before first period was over. Sasuke merely looked annoyed and hurried off to the school building, leaving his mother sobbing.

It wasn't that he _didn't_ care about gossip, no one can when they were the actual topic, but he knew his club, and the matter would be hushed up tomorrow. Now all that mattered was Sakura, who was undoubtedly going to be attacked throughout the day. He groaned; why did the simplest things end up like this?

lxl

It was Sakura's birthday soon, and Mikoto decided to hold a big party for her without Sakura knowing. She noticed Mikoto was acting a bit strange, not that she wasn't, but lately, even more so. But she didn't think about it, of course it's normal for Mikoto to be strange isn't it?

Sasuke didn't reject Mikoto's idea, after all she is his mother and he had to follow her rules, he wasn't really happy about it though. Lady Uchiha didn't hesitate at all to invite Ino, Tenten and Hinata; they reminded her that they have a test soon but they agreed to come. Someone dense like Sakura wouldn't notice a thing. Sasuke finally returned to the Uchiha household after a month working at _Danny's_.

During tennis training, when Sakura was chosen for the back-up team, she nearly dropped her racket onto the floor hearing this. Yura didn't seem to be pleased at all. "Sasuke-kun, you should really help her in training." She snorted as she looked at her nails. Sakura glared at her as she bent down to tie her shoelaces. 'Sasuke-kun' adamantly looked away from Sakura and her short, short skirt. _Why are girls' tennis uniforms so indecent?_ He asked himself.

"Plus the test is coming up, Sasuke-kun should tutor this stupid idiot on 28th it's the day before the test!" Yura gave her a final nasty look. She had been meaner to Sakura lately, since everybody in the school saw what was on that holy notice board. Not only she was being mean, nearly everyone else in the school was giving her nasty looks.

"You can't on 28th!" Sakura exclaimed suddenly.

Yura rolled her eyes. "And why is that?"

"Because it's…" The pink haired girl trailed off, unable to finish her sentence. "Whatever I'll tutor you on 28th, as promised." Sasuke drawled, rising from the ground and headed for the tennis ground. Sakura chewed her bottom lip; she sniffed loudly and turned around so no one could see her dejected expression. She didn't notice Sasuke turn around and look worried.

During lunch break, Ino and Tenten cornered Naruto to tell him about Sakura's surprise birthday party (Hinata was too shy to approach him). "Naruto you must come to Sakura's birthday party! Mikoto-obaachan told me to invite more people so I thought-" Ino was cut off by Naruto's loud sob causing Tenten and her to jump.

"What's wrong now?" Tenten grumbled, folding her arms.

"I can't!" The blond boy wailed loudly, causing nearby students to give him weird looks. Ino smacked his head hard. "Quiet down will you!" She hissed. "People are looking!"

"Why can't you go?" Tenten asked, curious.

Naruto sniffed, Ino rolled her eyes. "I can't face Sasuke! He- Sakura-chan…" His voice trailed off miserably. Ino sighed. "You believe that?? Mikoto-obaachan just put it up there for fun! It was probably a composite!" Shikamaru, who sat behind Ino, knew different, but wisely decided to keep his mouth shut. The photo was genuine, he was sure of that.

Tenten sighed wistfully, wishing it was real and she could be happy for her friend, turning on her heels to leave, leaving poor Naruto wailing in the corner.

Ino turned around, frowning as she saw Kiba and Sasuke together. She immediately pulled Tenten to the corner. "What are you doing-" Tenten snapped. Her friend clasped her hand over the brunette's mouth to shut her up. "Be quiet and look!"

"How's Sakura-chan?" Kiba asked politely as he wiped the sweat away with his towel. He had just come back from soccer practice and had decided to grab a bite to eat, before he noticed Mr. Anti-Social brooding. Uchiha looked over his shoulder, "the same." He snorted, guessing correctly that Kiba was also asking about how Sakura coped with the thinly veiled insults thrown at her after the Photo Incident. "She didn't change at all." The shorter boy smiled lightly. "That's because you don't look closely enough, Sasuke-san." He bowed one last time and jogged off to find Shino. Sasuke muttered something under his breath that the dog-lover couldn't hear. Kiba glanced behind him and noticed Sasuke looking thoughtful… and perhaps just a little bit worried.

Ino stared at Kiba's retreating back, before she gaped at Sasuke instead.

lxl

Mikoto finally set up the house for Sakura's surprise birthday party; but she eventually found out from Ino. The next morning, Lady Uchiha dragged her to her bedroom to give her a make over. Sakura indeed look different after the 2-hour make over. Mikoto curled her hair slightly at the bottom, making sure that the rest was straight. Her makeup was light, only accentuating her already stunning features. A bit of eyeliner, a gentle swipe of smoky green eye shadow, lush peach blush and slightly browned lip-gloss. Her dress was a dusky peach, made of a silky material that felt cool to her flushed skin. The strapped dress hugged her torso but flared at the bottom, near her knees. Sakura stared at herself in the mirror; not believing it's herself that she was seeing.

Her jaw dropped.

Mikoto laughed merrily, like bells ringing beside her ears. "You look fantastic! Sasu-chan will love you." She gushed, looking satisfied as ever.

"I think I look _weird_." Sakura admitted, flattening her hair a bit. Before Mikoto could reply, the doorbell rang. She gave Sakura a final smile and rushed downstairs. The pink haired girl heard chatter, she was sure it was Ino and them. She quietly stepped down the stairs, looking timid.

Ino laughed when she saw Sakura, offending her best friend. "What?" She asked, crossing her arms.

"Not bad." Tenten grinned, Hinata nodded beside her. "Sakura-chan looks really great." The shorter girl said quietly, smiling.

"Your chest is a bit flat, but ok." Ino giggled, her best friend's jaw dropped. "Sorry then." She grumbled, still smiling.

The birthday party was great for Sakura (even though Sasuke didn't turn up) Mikoto then brought up the huge, fancy cake onto the dinner table. Ino looked hopeful.

"Sa! Time for making a wish!" Mikoto said brightly, setting up the candles onto the cake. Sakura blew the candles and closed her eyes to pray. Everyone in the table knows what she was thinking. Tenten sweat-dropped. After a few minutes, Mikoto reached out for the presents across the table. She tore the first box open.

Ino grinned; it turned out to be a nightgown that was from Ino. "Thought you'd like that." Ino said smugly, not caring a whit that it cost a small fortune. Sakura looked teary. The nightgown was simply cut, lightly embroidered but it exuded an elegance that Sakura was quite sure she didn't have. Tenten, true to her slightly boyish self, gave her a book on self-defence, with a promise to teach her sometime. A small but heavy package, neatly wrapped, turned out to be a best-selling book that Sakura had been planning to get. She grinned at Shikamaru and thanked him earnestly. The next box was from Hinata, she bought her a horoscope book. Tenten burst out laughing, choking on her tea. "Let's see hmmm…" She flipped through the pages. Sakura raised her nicely shaped brow (done by Mikoto) "What are you looking for?"

Ino sniggered. "The relationship between you and Sasu—Uchiha-san is almost like oil and water!" Sakura's mouth hung open, she looked extremely hurt, nearly in tears. Tenten gave Ino a hard glare and put her arms around Sakura's thin shoulders. "I'm sure the horoscope is lying-" She took a look at Hinata's face, who looked hurt as well. "-I mean, sometimes horoscopes can be wrong…" Tenten's voice trailed off, not knowing what to do. Finally Ino, who read the rest of the paragraph, amended, "But it also says that it can work if you really want it to, and once it does, it's _steamy._" With a knowing waggle of her eyebrows, enjoying the blush on Sakura's cheeks.

And even though Naruto (still recovering), Kiba (invited by Sakura) and Neji (who had been invited by Tenten) couldn't come, neither failed to give her a present. Naruto had given a slightly messy, but otherwise very touching photo collage of all her friends, dating from kindergarten to primary, middle school to high school. Kiba gave her an adorable puppy plushie, with droopy ears and fuzzy fur. All the girls had squealed when it'd been revealed. The men suffered in silence. Neji, predictable as ever, had given her two books, one on fate and one of elegant haikus. Everyone sweat-dropped at that, but Sakura still loved both books dearly.

Haruno-dad gave Sakura a lovely pink silk embroidered kimono. "It doesn't matter how much it costs, you deserve it. I know your mother will be very proud of you and will always look after you from heaven." He smiled at his daughter; she was very moved, accepting the beautiful gift after squeezing her father in a tight hug.

Mikoto bought her jewellery, which was very expensive, but Mikoto brushed Sakura's protests away, insisting that a beautiful girl deserved beautiful things. Fugaku didn't know what to get her so he got her a silk spider weave scarf. Sakura smiled and bowed at them both, giggling slightly at Mikoto's antics, because after all, this was the first time she's given a gift to a girl she considered her own daughter. Fugaku looked awkward, not sure whether the gift he gave was alright. She opened Itachi's present, perfectly wrapped and quite heavy. Her eyebrow twitched when she saw what she was holding.

It was a photograph album of Sasuke when he was little.

Sakura stared.

Itachi grinned, shrugging. "I didn't know what to give you so I thought… what better present than something she's been obsessing over for years?"

"Are you telling me to blackmail him more??" Sakura couldn't help but laugh, very much delighted with her newest present.

"Yes-" The door slammed open, making everyone look at the doorway. To their biggest surprise, it was Sasuke, nearly wet from the snow outside.

"Sasu-chan!" Mikoto said, slightly annoyed, "why are you so late? It's Sakura's birthday." Sasuke gave a long-suffering sigh. "There was traffic, sorry." Sakura blinked as he approached her. "Happy Birthday." He grumbled, taking off his big jacket, throwing it onto the rack. Sakura blushed. Ino tried not to laugh. Mikoto looked like she wanted to both throttle Sasuke for being late and also hug him for melting enough to wish Sakura happy birthday.

"I have a present for Sakura." Sasuke said suddenly after the party was ending. Sakura stared at him as if he was insane. Mikoto jumped up and down in joy. "It must be private of course." He grabbed her wrist and dragged her upstairs, heading for his bedroom. Soichiro and Fugaku both looked very horrified. Mikoto looked like she'd faint from this. "Oh my son has grown up so much." She was crying; tears of happiness rolling down her cheeks. Itachi, never one to remain quiet when such a delicious opening was presented to him, cat-called up the stairs: "What is it? A ticket for a _free ride_?" He managed to compose himself from laughing too loudly, only letting a light chuckle to escape his lips. After all, he had a reputation to uphold. Sakura's friends, however, collapsed in laughter. But when neither of the two came down after three minutes, a deathly silence descended upon the family and friends.

"Are you _serious_." Ino stared as the two fathers and plus the crazy mother and the first son bolted upstairs. Tenten shook her head. "I can't believe this. I can't imagine those two… you know…" She blushed.

"I think I'm dreaming." Ino muttered, leaning against Shikamaru, with a glazed look in her eyes. Shikamaru snorted. "I don't think Sasuke will bother with a troublesome woman…" She glared at him, but didn't say anything.

"You think we should move out? I mean there will be noises coming from their room-"

"SHIKAMARU!!" Ino and Tenten jumped up from the seat, bellowing, their faces red from embarrassment. The usually stoic boy grinned, enjoying Ino's flushed look.

_What really happened:_

Sasuke ran upstairs, taking Sakura along with him. She was _very_ nervous about what was going to happen next. She fidgeted uneasily. Sasuke smirked, and decided to tease her. "You want to know what my present is?" He slowly backed her up against the wall, placing his hands on either side of her head. He leaned in closer, amused at how Sakura's knees were trying to give up on her. Her emerald eyes flicked up and somehow pinned him in place before she stared at the ground again and did an impressive imitation of Hinata. He was suddenly all too aware of her dress and the low neckline, her special scent of strawberries, and most of all, their position.

"Um…" Sakura looked redder than usual as she stuttered, but that was enough to break Sasuke out of his trance. He cursed himself and moved back, hoping she wouldn't notice his own flushed face.

He sighed, "You're honestly turning into like my mother. The present is very simple. It's tutoring you, idiot." He flopped down onto the chair, giving himself a breather, rubbing his face with his hands. _What the hell were you thinking you idiot? She should be the last person you would – _He stopped himself on that train of thought, derailing it before it had anytime to gain momentum and somehow make it more plausible. A tiny voice, with the toughness of a cockroach that _just wouldn't die,_ piped up from the depths of his mind. _Why not? She's smart, she's pretty, she keeps her wits about you most times and she's caring, with a great personality. It doesn't hurt that she adores you, does it? _

"Why not indeed." He mumbled to himself.

Sakura blinked. "What?" Half of her cheered and felt relieved, and the other half just wanted to throw a tantrum and cry.

"We have a test tomorrow, remember? Sit down." Sasuke scowled, pushing all such traitorous thoughts from his mind. She finally decided to look relieved and was very happy with his present.

That night, unknown to both of them, everyone was pressing their ears against the door trying to find out what was going on in the room.

**_To be continued…_**

lxl

**Authoress's Notes: **Sorry for the late update! Please forgive me!! Please review:D Don't hesitate to press the _Go_ button!! See you all in the next chapter; I promise I won't be late! ;D Ciao! O.OV

**Co-Authoress's Notes:** Leave us a review, good people!


	13. Engagement

**She will be Loved**

**Authoress's Notes: **Sorry for the late update!! Thank you _all_ for the lovely reviews:DD They were beautiful as usual, anyhoo this is chapter 13 enjoy 8D

One more thing.

My fic is based onto the manga "Mischievous Kiss" AKA Itazura na Kiss written by Kaoru Tada, yes I've had reviews coming asking me if is it based onto the Taiwanese drama _It started with a Kiss_? Guess what, the drama is **BASED** onto the manga ok? Yup, yup -.-;;

Please enjoy chapter 13 :D

**Co-written** with Earthborne, thanks so much!

Co-Authoress: sleepykittycat, in answer to your question, it was Itachi who said it. He disowned his brother because Sasuke was going on a 'date' with Yura. Thanks for all of your reviews, we adore them endlessly!

Life is a perpetual plot to keep us from reading.

"Romance is dead. It was acquired in a hostile takeover by Hallmark and Disney, homogenized, and sold off piece by piece."  
-Matt Groening, The Simpsons

**Disclaimer: **Do not own Naruto _or_ the plot -.-

**Chapter thirteen: Engagement**

lxl

Sakura's exam results were improving greatly, especially her English ones. Sasuke still looked unimpressed. "Those are _below _mine." He said smugly, causing the girl to glare at him, clutching her papers tightly. "Excuse me for being handicapped." She retorted back, kicking the chair aside, causing another boy sitting beside her jump up, looking terrified.

Shikamaru whistled. They were on _another_ row and school was just beginning.

"You're excused." Sasuke rolled his eyes, silently enjoying the way she puffed up in anger. "You're not as smart as _me_."

Sakura's jaw dropped. "This is the first time I've heard anybody arrogant enough to call themselves smart!!" She gritted her teeth, not believing the _nerve_ of this man!

"You can't blame him." Ino beside her flicked her hair. "He is a prodigy." Sasuke's lips curved into a satisfied smirk, leaning back into his chair and crossing his arms. Sakura tried not to stare at his arresting features, pausing for a moment as her train of thought derailed and she looked away, embarrassed. Ino was about to say something sardonic until she saw Sakura staring at Yura as she swaggered up to Sasuke, looking like she'd disjointed her hip. Sasuke frowned slightly and looked ill. Sakura's eyebrow twitched as the witch placed her hand onto his shoulder.

Ino's eyes were the sizes of two plates. This was going to be _good_.

The rosette tried to contain her animalistic fury as she watched those two walked out of the classroom.

Silence filled the room.

Naruto burst out laughing. "SASUKE FINALLY HAS A GIRLFRIEND!!" He jumped up and down, looking as gleeful as ever; Ino thought the whole school could hear him yell. "Damnit Naruto! Why don't you yell a bit louder, I'm sure they didn't hear you in MEXICO!" She screeched, and the windowpanes rattled threateningly. Naruto (and the rest of the class) cowed away from her and wisely remained silent.

Satisfied, Ino turned around to talk to Sakura, but unfortunately she wasn't there.

After following the ill-matched pair for about 5 minutes, Sakura hid behind a large, convenient bush to listen to them talk, her heart pounded endless against her chest. Could it be?

Yura murmured some words that Sakura couldn't make out of, she inched a little bit closer.

"…I really, really like you Sasuke-kun." Yura simpered, and Sakura repressed her gag reflex. The fashion abomination stepped closer to Sasuke, and touched his arm. Sasuke didn't move; he wanted desperately to shift away, but the overpowering perfume (_what did she put in that stuff? _he wondered to himself) locked him in place. The rosette could feel fire and envy licking at her insides. And she had half a mind to dart about from behind the bushes and grab Sasuke. But this seemed a little dramatic, even for her.

Yura paused, raising an eyebrow; she noticed he didn't make a move at all, his cold gaze pierce through hers. "Why won't you kiss me?" She asked, adding a touch of whine. The pink haired girl behind the bushes nearly fell over. Someone really didn't like beating around the bush!

Sasuke's lips tightened, turning away to walk away. "Because I don't like you _at all _and because I've already kissed someone before."

Both Sakura and Yura froze. "_Who_?" She demanded, looking rejected. Sasuke ignored her and made his way towards the classroom, Sakura tried to hide from his path of vision but a bramble caught her sleeve and she fell over. "Ouch!" She yelped in pain as she landed on her back. _Traitor!_ She silently yelled at the bush and shook her fist at it; the bush was unsympathetic.

"I knew that was gonna happen." Sasuke murmured under his breath, narrowing his eyes. "What are _you_ doing here?" He seethed, towering over her. She crawled back up, rubbing her back as she held onto a tree for support. "This place is _dangerous_." She muttered, more to herself, dusting the mud off her.

He said something under his breath that she couldn't hear. "What?" She blinked, titling her head. _Just play innocent. Maybe he'll be fooled. _She chanted to herself, but the ball of lead in her gut justly named 'Dread' churned and she despaired. _Who am I kidding? I'll probably end up being the innocent lamb that gets ripped apart by the big bad wolf._

"Come with me." Sasuke said impatiently, grabbing her wrist and pulling her towards the building, leaving Yura standing alone, with her jaw dropped open, and her eyes as large as two full moons but burning with the wrath of a thousand suns. (Oddly poetic...)

When they were alone, he immediately released her. Sakura glared at him, rubbing her wrist, which was already red. "God, you did't have to pull me so hard. Thanks to you my wrist is sore…" She complained loudly. He crossed his arms. "What were you doing there?" He deadpanned. She winced at his tone; _not good_, she thought

"I lost something." She said innocently, looking away.

He snorted. "Right, your wits more like it." He stepped closer, causing her to blush and take a small step back. "And w-what were you doing there anyway?" She changed the subject, stammering. She almost hated herself for stammering at that moment.

"You heard everything, you should know." He sneered.

"I d-did not!"

He leaned forward, and all she could see were the black pupils of his eyes, and felt the breath on her cheeks. She closed her eyes, looking hopeful. After few moments, she opened her eyes and he wasn't there anymore. She sighed to herself and wished desperately that he didn't have this power over her.

lxl

When they arrived home, Fugaku wanted to talk to Sasuke, so the rest of the family left the living room to do their own jobs. Except Mikoto, she pressed her ear to the misted door glass. Sakura noticed as she put her plates away in the kitchen. "Um… What are you doing?" She asked.

"Sh!" Mikoto said sharply causing Sakura to jump, she pointed her finger at the door. "They're talking about something serious." She whispered, smiling slightly in a plotting sort of way, and waved a hand for her to come and listen as well. Sakura had no choice but to listen, even though she felt bad about it.

"…Your brother is really stubborn lately." Sakura heard Fugaku begin to say as he sipped his coffee. Sasuke made no response, remaining silent.

"And I'm old." Uchiha father said solemnly, getting straight to the point. Sakura sweat dropped, he's only like what, in his 40s! She could swear she saw Sasuke roll his eyes. "Father, you're not old. You're just getting _older_." He replied smartly. Fugaku wasn't self-conscious about his age like Mikoto was, but no one wanted to be reminded that they were approaching half a century.

"Sasuke, you must understand, your brother isn't suitable for the company. At first, with him being a prodigy, it seemed like the best option, but his genius has also stirred his rebelliousness. He is far too set on his own opinions." Fugaku sighed gravely. " However, in recent years you have shown me that you are just as capable, and dare I say, better, at taking care of the company." Fugaku said.

Mikoto and Sakura nearly fell over by the door. Lady Uchiha turned around, looking as if she had lost 2 million dollars. "What?" Sakura mouthed silently, looking as shocked as she was. Mikoto shook her head and motioned for Sakura to continue listening.

Sasuke suddenly stood up. "I can't do that Father." Fugaku looked up, standing up also. "And why is that?" Although he didn't seem angry, Sakura could hear in his voice, it was shaking. Sakura knew it must be hard for Fugaku to have both his sons defy him, and also to hand over the company he built from scratch to a stranger.

"I want to become a doctor."

That statement made Sakura's jaw drop. Fugaku stared at his youngest son and closed his eyes. He fell to his knees and clutched his chest. "Father!" Sasuke yelled and ran forward. Mikoto made a loud shriek. "Fugaku!" She slammed the door open and rushed to her husband's side, holding onto him; she was nearly in tears. "Sasuke! Call the ambulance!!" She screamed at him. Sasuke dashed to the telephone and dialled the numbers as fast as he could. His father couldn't have had a heart attack because of him could he?

lxl

It took Fugaku a while to open his eyes again. Mikoto was jumping up with joy, wiping her tears away. Fugaku lay in bed, sighing wistfully; he didn't know why his sons refused to take his place for the company. Soichiro fretted about, worried for his best friend's health, while his daughter stood beside him and wished she wasn't there. Itachi sulked in the corner, his expression sullen. Sasuke sat down beside the bed. His father remained quiet.

"Father." Sasuke started; his peaceful and resigned eyes made Sakura shudder. "I will take the company if you want." That tiny little sentence made the whole room gasp in surprise. Usually Sasuke never changed his mind once he made a decision.

"Y-you would?" Mikoto grabbed Sasuke's arm, her eyes seemed to be larger than usual. "Oh Sasuke, I know you really want to be a doctor, are you sure you want to give it up?"

"Yes." Sasuke said quietly. Fugaku's eyes snapped open. "You're accepting?"

"Yes father." Fugaku visibly relaxed, and breathed a sigh of relief.

Sasuke had no idea that he accepted more than just a company that day.

lxl

The next morning, Sasuke didn't go to school. The girls wept and cried when they heard the news that Uchiha Sasuke had dropped out of the school to take over his father's company. As Sakura walked through the school, she could see nearly _every_ single girl holding up their hankies and wiping their tears away from the corners of their eyes.

Sakura scowled at the sight as she dropped her books on her desk. She could see Yura behind her crying her heart out with a huge box of tissues placed in front of her. Naruto apparently stopped nagging Sakura for a while, which she found really weird.

For some reason he was beginning to talk to Hinata more, but she wasn't complaining. Sakura knew her friend Hinata had always loved Naruto since grade 4. She smiled silently to herself as he took Hinata's bento (she insisted that he eats food besides ramen and had volunteered to pack more for him in her lunches) and started eating. When Hinata saw Sakura walking towards them, her expression turned frantic and panicky as she picked up her tray and scurried off without a word, not even greeting her.

"Hinata?" Naruto yelled, with a mouthful of food, spraying rice everywhere. Sakura winced and backed away. "What did you say to her??" The girl accused, crossing her arms, staring at her blond friend.

"I didn't say anything to her!" He said honestly, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"_Nothing_??" Sakura asked shrilly, "did you see that expression on her face? You obviously offended her!" She slapped him upside the head.

"OW!" Naruto complained loudly. "I said nothing to her! I swear to god." He pulled a face and stuffed a pork bun into his mouth. Sakura scoffed, "be careful what you say to her, you might hurt her just like that." She clicked her fingers. Naruto flinched, widening his large sapphire eyes. She snorted and left to pack her things away.

She wondered why Hinata avoided her for the rest of the day.

lxl

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura pushed open the door, poking her head in. He was inside his room; looking through files that Fugaku gave him in the hospital. He made a sound, telling her to come in. She shut the door behind him. "Are you seriously taking your father's company?" She flopped down to his bed, a frown planted on her face.

"I have to, don't I?" He replied sarcastically, writing something onto the paper, which looked like gibberish. She cleared her throat, tearing her look from the work. "Your friends missed you."

Something on his face that told her he missed being in school as well. "I have a company to take care of." He said coldly, shoving his mask back on and putting the folders aside. She felt sorrow for him; losing his goal must have been hard. "You want to become a doctor don't you?"

"I did."

"You still do!" She gripped the bed sheets.

"Shut up, I'm trying to do my work." He snapped, glaring at her.

"I know how you feel." She said bitterly, biting her lip, her green eyes looked distant.

"No you don't." The Uchiha genius snorted. "No one knows how I feel, now get out." He grabbed her and was about to throw her out of the room Mikoto's voice stopped them.

"Sasuke, you have guests." Her voice was reluctant and half angry. Sasuke glared at Sakura one last time, releasing her wrist, stuffing his hands in his pockets, making sure that each one of his steps were small and slow.

Sakura couldn't help walking a few steps and listen to them. She heard voices.

"Sasuke. This is your fiancée." Mikoto said unwillingly, gritting her teeth, doing her best to smile. Sakura could swear to herself her heart had stopped; she nearly rolled down the stairs.

Her eyes widened when she saw the slightly tear stained and terrified face of Hyuuga Hinata, dressed in an elegant blue kimono, escorted by her father, but she didn't look happy at all.

_**To be continued…**_

lxl

**Authoress's Notes: **Sorry, a bit of a cliffie there right? I do apologize peoples… Chapter 14 will be on soon XD

Please review! See you next chapter!

**Co-Authoress:** I know, that beating around the bush part was so trite; I'm ashamed of myself. But I couldn't help it, y'know? Anyway, please do us a big favour and click on the butt on. (Ok, I'll stop now.) XD P.s. I actually considered making Sasuke's preferred career 'Professional Avenger.' But then I will never stop laughing and no one's going to take this fic seriously.


	14. The Other One

**She will be Loved**

**Authoress's Notes: **I'm sooooo sorry for this late, late, late update! –is shot- But fear not my lovely readers! This chapter is well, longer than the other chapters I've worked on :D Annnd homg thank you so much for the reviews!! They are lovely :DDD anyway enjoy this 10 pages chapter hehe.

**Disclaimer: **Not mine!

**Co-written with Earthborne**!! (heart)

XD I love you reviewers :3 And special loves for Saim for a long review!

"Being in love is like wetting yourself; everyone can see it but only you can feel the warmth."

"We are the people our parents warned us about."

Chapter fourteen: The Other One

lxl

Sakura gasped and stared at her friend Hyuuga Hinata dressed in a beautiful blue kimono; which matched her hair and her obi. Any guy who looked at her now would find her attractive. Yet the shy girl seemed to be unhappy as she shuffled tensely beside her father. Hyuuga Hiashi narrowed his eyes, warning her not to frown so much. She bowed her head lowly, trying her best to smile through her welling tears.

Sasuke stared at the demure Hinata, his jaw dropped; he had never been so shocked in his life. He stared back at his mother, he felt himself shaking with anger, his hands balled into a tight fist. His death glare replaced confusion and anger. Mikoto didn't look at her youngest son, her lips tightened into a thin line. "Good evening Hyuuga-san." She said with a stiff bow; Hinata and Hiashi bowed back. "Please come in, Fugaku is waiting in the living room, he just got out from the hospital yesterday; dinner will begin shortly." Sasuke noticed a tinge of coldness in her normally warm and cheerful tone.

The pink haired girl upstairs who had been spying all this time felt the awfully familiar feeling of tears, and ran back to her room, slamming the door shut. No doubt they heard her, but she didn't give a damn anymore. She threw herself onto her bed and cried silently, burying her face into her pillow as she wailed; her innocent, true love for Sasuke totally destroyed. Did Hinata always like Sasuke? Did she agree on this marriage? Sakura felt more fresh tears splashing down her cheeks. One of her best friends is going to marry Sasuke. Her heart broke into millions of pieces.

"Sakura!" A voice called from downstairs. It was Mikoto. For the first time she ignored her. Footsteps approached. She groaned and quickly sat up, wiping her tears away trying to look normal. Her door swung open, Mikoto's anxious face stared at her.

"Sakura, it's dinnertime." She said quietly, looking at the floor and thankfully, not commenting on her blotchy face.

"I'm sorry… I don't feel like eating." The shorter girl mumbled, biting her lower lip hard to prevent a sob from escaping. Mikoto frowned; she lightly touched her arm, "Please… I know it's hard, but you have to come to dinner, it's rude if you don't. Hyuuga Hiashi already knows you're living in our house since… since Hinata is your good friend…" Her voice trailed off, voice shaking.

Sakura's head lowered, and she nodded slowly. She fixed herself in the bathroom mirror and tried to get even a tiny bit of her old sparkling smile to return. Unsuccessful and fighting her own tears back, she followed Mikoto downstairs. Hinata almost blushed when Sakura entered the room. The two girls flinched when their gazes caught.

_Act like you don't care._ Sakura ordered herself, her pace quickened as she made her way towards the table.

"Hello Hinata." She said pleasantly, pulling a chair to sit down. Her friend stiffened. "G-Good evening Sakura." She said meekly. Sasuke eyed Sakura suspiciously from the corner of his eye. Sakura let her hair down to form a curtain of hair between his eye contact and her. They ate silently as Fugaku and Hiashi were chatting away with their business talks. Sakura kept glancing up to see if she could catch Hinata's eyes and ask her what was going on, but the smaller girl was so terrified she simply sat in her chair and shook, only nibbling at her food out of ingrained politeness. Sakura's heart softened; Hinata obviously objected to the wedding because she still loved Naruto, but growing up with Hinata she knew how immovable Hiashi is.

As the conversation was getting a little bit boring, Sakura was about to get up and leave until Hiashi's calm yet cold voice said something that truly made her heart stop.

"So." Hiashi placed his chopsticks down and took a sip of his wine. "Do you think having wedding next summer is good enough?" That expression reminded Sakura of Hyuuga Neji; calculating, determined and Sakura could bet all her pocket money Hiashi also believed that the end justified the means. Sakura felt her blood run cold. Hinata froze like a statue, dropping her hands onto her lap and began to twist the king's ransom of fabric she wore. Sasuke cursed underneath his breath, refusing to look at Sakura.

"What do you think Hinata?" Fugaku asked her kindly. Mikoto narrowed her eyes dangerously; her knuckles were so white she nearly broke her own chopsticks. She coughed loudly.

"I-I t-think…" Hinata stammered, going as red as Sasuke's favourite tomato. She stole a glance at Sakura who also seemed to be frozen. Hurt filled her deep green eyes. "I-I do not k-know I'm afraid." She finally said quietly, gripping the fabrics of her kimono underneath.

"Oh how modest." Fugaku smiled. "I think it's a great idea Hyuuga-san." Hiashi half smiled and raised the glass to his pale lips and sipped.

Sakura stood up, making a funny noise in the back of her throat. Everyone at the table stared at her.

"Gochisosama." Sakura whispered, not looking up and hurried to put her plate into the kitchen and fled upstairs so they couldn't see her tears.

lxl

What made Sakura more devastated was that Sasuke actually _agreed_ to the arranged marriage. Not to mention Mikoto's fury with her own son. Both women knew that if Sasuke didn't object, there was no way to win the war.

"Okay. She _what_??" Ino breathed, her eyes big as two plates.

"She's engaged to Sasuke-kun." Sakura had to mumble to words out, feeling deflated. Tenten dropped her spoon onto the floor. (It was lunchtime you see)

"YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!!!" The blonde screamed out, making everyone in the class stare at her in fear. Sakura bit her lip, pretending that she didn't care. "B-But I thought she always liked Naruto." She threw a quick glance at Naruto who was showing off his newest moves on fighting.

"I don't know." Sakura said, putting her face in her hand. She wished that Ino would just drop it, since it the wound was still a bit too raw. Tenten put a comforting arm around Sakura's thin shoulders as the rosette started to cry dry sobs; she ran out of tears a long time ago.

"Oh my god, I can't believe this is happening…" Ino said, dazed. "I thought… Yeah well her father's company is one of the biggest in Japan… And this is definitely a company move to merge the two together, but… even if it would make my father billions, he wouldn't do this to me! Oh my god, what are those two thinking! Are they still stuck in the Dark Ages or something? How could Hiashi pawn off his own daughter like that? Like he's bartering her or something!" Ino continued to rant.

"I'm going to get more information." Tenten said suddenly, shooting up from her seat and marching over to where Neji appeared to be meditating. The pale-eyed genius cracked his eye open to see his girlfriend looming over him with a stormy expression. It didn't bode well.

Sakura buried her head into her arms. "I'm tired. I haven't slept all night yesterday."

A feather light touch was on her shoulder. Sakura groaned. "I said leave me alone." She looked up. "Oh."

Hinata took a seat beside her. "I'm so sorry Sakura…" The quiet girl demurred. The pink haired girl didn't expect that coming. "…Uhh?"

"My…father forced me into the arranged marriage. I swear I don't want to marry Uchiha Sasuke." She softly said, shifting uncomfortably. Sakura blinked. Then she realized what was going on. Waves of guilt washed over her again. Sakura blushed lightly, knowing she had misunderstood her. "Uh…" She repeated lamely.

"I-I will talk to Father about the marriage… I don't _want _to marry him… I-" She went red all of sudden. Sakura felt bad for the poor girl, and hugged her comfortingly.

"Because you like Naruto?" Ino smirked, finishing off for her. Hinata blushed deeper, redness lapping the other. She quietly nodded. Ino sighed loudly, putting her arms behind her head and leaned back, mumbling something under her breath.

"Sakura-chan?" Hinata asked fearfully. The said girl turned to look at her. "C-can you go out wi-with N-Naruto-kun?" All eyes swivelled to her astounding request. She turned a shade of red not found in nature and quickly amended her sentence. "I-I know that you still love S-Sasuke-san but Naruto h-has been really mi-miserable lately and m-maybe a date – even a platonic one – c-can cheer him up." She finished lamely.

"But _you_ love Naruto, Hinata!" Ino cried, switching her gazes between Sakura and Hinata.

"I d-do, b-but he's be-been so sad lately…" The two other girls looked at each other, guilt assaulting them. They'd been so focused on their own dramas they hadn't realized that another friend was suffering. Sakura felt deeply moved by Hinata's bravery; love meant putting the one you love above your own happiness. Sakura felt compelled to agree to Hinata's request, for the sake of Naruto and her friend. What she tried to tell herself was that it was a good way to forget Sasuke, because if… if he was happy with Hinata, shouldn't she be happy for them?

She clasped Hinata's small, delicate and much too frail looking hands in her own and looked directly into Hinata's eyes. "If Naruto does ask me out, I will agree." She smiled reassuringly at Hinata and the pale-eyed girl gave a wavering smile back.

At that moment, Uchiha Sasuke slid the classroom door open, without looking at anyone he sat down in his seat.

Sakura gulped, and quickly looked away, her cheeks warming again; she told herself that she was being silly, but she couldn't help but feel as if she was cheating on Sasuke. Ino and Hinata looked at each other sadly.

lxl

Mikoto didn't like Hyuuga Hiashi at all. His demeanour was cold, bordering on rude, his smiles never reached his eyes, and it was clear that Hinata was afraid of her own father. Hyuuga Hinata was wearing a different kimono this time. It was soft lilac with cherry blossoms sewed on; her dark blue hair was tied back into a small, modest ponytail. Mikoto sighed wistfully, glancing at her son who sat by her side. He didn't even look at her.

Hiashi smiled knowingly at Sasuke. "I heard Uchiha-san is very popular at school?"

Sasuke grimaced and tried hard not to glare at his mother. "I'm okay." He replied dully. Hinata shifted uneasily, and she looked out of the window. A small gasp escaped her. There in the bushes she could see Sakura's green eyes stare back at them. Sakura quickly put a finger over a mouth to tell her to be quiet.

Hinata snapped back to the table. She caught her father's stern look glaring down at her. "Hinata?" He inquired; she noticed the coldness and order in his tone.

"I-I… Nothing." She said docilely, lowering her head. The man raised his eyebrow and turned back to the Uchihas. "I heard from Fugaku-san that your grades are amazingly good."

"Thank you." Sasuke mumbled politely. Even though he didn't sound like it. He frowned slightly, and glanced out of window. Sakura ducked instantly, she prayed that he didn't see her. He had a feeling that someone was there, and a sinking one as to who it was.

"The wedding next summer is okay?" Hiashi asked as he took a sip of his green tea, his expression hardening, like he was daring anybody to object. Hinata couldn't but to let out a small squeak. "C-Chichiue... I d-don't..." She began, but stopped when she saw the glare she received. She shut her mouth, hating herself.

"And who's the lady with pink hair and large green eyes the other day when we saw her?"

Mikoto smiled. "Oh that's Sakura, the girl who has been living with _Sasuke_ since last year." Sasuke's eyes widened and stared at his own mother, who was smiling happily, albeit satisfactorily at the sight of Hiashi's stunned expression.

"_Mother_." Sasuke demanded through gritted teeth. "Sakura _did not_ live with me! She lives with _us_!"

"Isn't that the same thing? Her room is next to yours." Mikoto snorted, crossing her arms like a child. The younger Uchiha's jaw dropped, he couldn't believe that it was his _mother_ that he was speaking to. Then again, he could. He abruptly stood up, and grabbed Hinata's wrist. "Excuse us, we'd like to have some fresh air." He said coldly, glaring at his mother. Sakura and Mikoto watched them walk out of the room in horror.

"Well, aren't they getting along very well." Hiashi said smugly, taking another sip of the tea. Mikoto, in her mind, pushed up her sleeves and was getting ready to lock horns with the business world's most aggressive and cold-hearted CEO. She didn't marry Fugaku for nothing, and he was colder than even Hiashi when she dated him. Hiashi would be like a lamb compared to Fugaku.

Sakura heard Sasuke dragging Hinata on top of the red decorative bridge. Him and _Hinata_ she wondered to herself. That couple just didn't come across her mind. She never would have thought that Hinata would be marrying Sasuke in the end.

She sniffed sadly and continued on sneaking up on them. She hid underneath the bridge and listened in, feeling like the troll in the Billy Goats' story.

"…Sasuke-san, you know you could always reject this ma-marriage." Sakura heard Hinata say quietly, almost pleadingly to him. Sasuke didn't reply after a long moment.

"My father has my best interests at heart. Doing what he has asked me to is to help his company and carry on the family name." Not only did Sasuke sound like he was reading the script like a bad actor, his voice almost broke on the last part of his sentence. Hinata shook her head; even Sasuke didn't seem to believe what he was saying.

"But you were so s-shocked, Sasuke-san, when your mother announced our arranged nup-nuptials. My father didn't s-speak to me about it at all either, and… doing this seems like he doesn't c-care what I think. Don't you feel like that, S-Sasuke-san?"

He didn't reply; instead his shoulder became tensed.

"Sakura is hurt." Hinata tilted her head sadly. "You shouldn't force yourself into this engagement." She fingered the fabrics of the kimono swiftly. At that moment Sasuke almost looked angry. "Did Sakura tell you to say this?"

"No!" Hinata said almost shrilly, she couldn't believe that Sasuke thought Sakura asked her to say this for her. "Sakura wouldn't do this to me, she would never!" He swore under his breath, stuffing his hands into his pockets and walking away. The bush rustled, as if Sakura was trying to move to a better angle. Sasuke once again, narrowed his eyes dangerously. Sakura gulped as she tried to duck away from Sasuke's piercing glare towards her. No, not her, the bush! _Shannaro!_ Sakura swore loudly inside her mind.

Sasuke halted, tearing his eyes away from the bush, and then he turned and stalked back across the bridge to Hinata. The tiny girl yelped as he grabbed her by her wrists and began escorting her along with him. The girl behind the bush's eyes widened and her jaw dropped, she had no idea how that hurt her. Her hands dropped beside her as her eyes lowered sadly, taking a step backwards. Of course she didn't even bother to turn around and look, because she was falling.

Into a pond.

Before she could try to scream or shriek, her back made contact with the cold water, pushing her into the water. A loud splash was heard. Hinata stopped and turned her head around. "What was that?" She asked anxiously, wondering if that was Sakura.

"Nothing." Sasuke mumbled, refusing to turn around and pulled the Hyuuga heiress away.

lxl

Sakura was woken by the musical sound of her cell phone. The Gackt music rang loudly, she was sure that pretty much the whole house could hear it. She groaned and made a grab for it without lifting her head up. Sakura was sure that it was past midnight. The display read _Uzumaki Naruto_. She groaned again, _what did he want?_

Without any hesitation she flipped her phone open and pressed some keys. "Naruto, if this is about you not being able to sleep I will kill you tomorrow." She said foggily, her brain still trying to catch up with the present time from its deep slumber.

"_Sakura-chan?"_

She sighed. "What? It's so damn late."

"_Uh, can I ask you something?"_

"Hurry up." She stifled a yawn, turning around to shift to a more comfortable position. She had just managed to sleep a few hours ago!

"_Go out with me."_

Now she _didn't_ think that was coming. She thought he already forgotten about her? "Naruto do you know what you're doing?" She almost hissed into the receiver. "Think about _Hinata's _feelings!"

"_Huh? What about Hinata? She's going to marry Sasuke." _He replied dully, as if he was hurt.

Wait, could he be – "Naruto, are you using me to forget about Hinata?" She felt her temper rising as she gripped onto the phone tightly. Then her earlier conversation with Hinata came back to her and she relaxed her grip, feeling extremely hypocritical; hadn't she been going to do the same thing for Sasuke?

"_Sakura-chan, you know I've always liked you._" He said softly.

"I-"

"_You know Hinata is going to marry Sasuke… there's no way he could marry you!"_

Ouch. That hurt like hell. Sakura felt tears stinging her eyes; she realized he was speaking the truth. After a long pause and remembering her promise, "okay I'll go out with you." She replied as quiet as he is.

"_Really- _beep"

She didn't want to hear anymore. She pulled her covers over her head and closed her eyes. She cried herself to sleep.

lxl

Nearly everyone in the school heard about Naruto dating Sakura. Sasuke seemed to be colder to her than usual, Sakura tried _not_ to care. The dinner table was becoming quieter and quieter each day, leaving Mikoto nearly in tears. Every night, Itachi could hear Sakura sobbing silently to herself, and when he peeked into her bedroom, and saw hugging her a pillow tightly and staring at the photo in her wallet that she secretly took few years ago.

Itachi felt sorry for her, and that was a first. An _Uchiha_ would never feel sorry for _anybody_. He quietly closed the door behind him and leaned against wall, sighing. Then he decided he would talk to his brother about this situation; he didn't want to the attend Sasuke's wedding _then_ to Sakura's funeral. At that moment, he nearly thought that was morbidly funny.

The Uchiha heir pulled a face and made his way towards Sasuke's room and he knocked on it quietly. He frowned when he didn't hear any footsteps approaching. Frowning slightly, he pressed his ear against the door. He heard a grumble and heavy footsteps approaching him. Itachi quickly straightened himself, trying to look normal again.

The door swung madly. "What?" Sasuke snapped, and he looked up to see his brother standing by his door with his arms crossed. "Oh. It's you."

"I'm here to talk." Itachi's eyebrows furrowed, pushing pass Sasuke to enter the room.

"…about what-Hey! Don't sit on my bed!" Sasuke protested, glaring.

"I don't have any contagious diseases." The older Uchiha rolled his eyes. Sasuke looked at him in disgust and sat onto his chair, trying to study again. "Anyway, are you really going to marry Hyuuga-san?"

Sasuke froze, and slowly put his pen down. So that's what it's all about, he thought angrily."Yes. And what's wrong with that?" He said defensively. Itachi glared at his brother's back. "What's _wrong_ is." He said firmly, "why are you marrying a woman that you don't even know?"

"I do know her. She's in my class aniki."

"That's not the point!" Itachi felt like throttling some sense into his brother. "I'm sick of hearing Sakura crying everyday, it makes everyone depressed. Mother's on the verge of a nervous breakdown and she refuses to even speak to father. Soichiro-san is becoming estranged to his own daughter and _you're_ just being a selfish prick."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "So, you're telling me to give up my future just for the sake of _Sakura_?"

Itachi paused, his eyes dark and dull. "…no." He finally replied. "I'm telling you to be honest with yourself." He laid a warm hand on Sasuke's shoulder, oddly affectionate. "Tell me, have you ever thought of Sakura as your friend?"

Sasuke refused to reply.

"You shouldn't force yourself into this marriage, Sasuke, just to appease our father. I suppose I should have seen it coming. Father asked me first to marry Hinata-san." Sasuke whipped his head around to stare at Itachi in utter disbelief. Itachi nodded. "I refused of course, because heir or not, father can't manipulate me with rants about duty and how it was for the better of the company. So after I refused, the only other option was you. And since there's no one else, who cared what you wanted? Father signed you off and here you are, an engaged man. What's worse is that you didn't even fight it; you lay flat like a doormat and let father walk all over you because you still want to please him." Itachi sounded disappointed. "Even if you're doing this for yourself, think about how Hinata-san feels. She's clearly miserable, and I really doubt you can make her happy, the heartless bastard that you are. Sometimes I wonder if Sakura's a masochist, with the way she tortures herself liking you." Itachi shook his head. Then he looked up directly into Sasuke's eyes, locking them in place. "I'll ask you again, foolish little brother, have you ever thought of Sakura's as your friend?"

"…Nii-san, you need to go to sleep, I'm sure you're tired." The younger Uchiha said softly, standing up.

"Damnit Sasuke, you're ignoring my question!" Itachi was angry.

"I'm tired, I have a date tomorrow." Sasuke said in a distant monotone.

"You _what_?"

Then the door shut in Itachi's surprised face.

lxl

In a rare act of thoughtfulness, Naruto invited Sakura to the aquamarine, and she happily said yes.

Sakura spent the rest of her day with Naruto that Saturday. She seemed to have forgotten about Sasuke and her troubles. She was smiling again, and even laughed at Naruto's amusing antics. She then realized that Naruto could make her laugh but Sasuke could only make her cry. Sighing wistfully, she laid her hand onto the bar and stared at her reflection in the glass.

"Wow dolphins!" Sakura heard Naruto's loud yell. She snapped back to reality, and turned her head towards him and smiled back. She was about to turn around until she heard a voice that made her blood run cold.

"…Sakura-chan?"

Naruto froze and he stopped talking.

Sakura remain where she was, gaping at the floor, her grip tightened around the metal bars. She turned around slowly and faced Hinata. She was at the aquamarine as well… with Sasuke. On a _date_. She could almost hear her heart sob.

"H-Hinata!" Crap, since when did she start _stuttering_? "What are you guys doing here?" Oh how she berated herself for that stupid question.

Hinata stole a quick glance at Naruto, who was fuming already, his face purple. "Um," Hinata tried, blushing already. Oh poor girl. "I-I'm with Uchiha-san." She addressed him politely. She looked like she wanted to be somewhere far, far, far away. Probably in another dimension altogether.

Sakura looked up quickly at Sasuke. He didn't look very happy either. She looked away immediately; she knew she was getting more awkward; she had a feeling that he was glaring at her. "On a date with _Uzumaki_ I presume?" She heard him sneer. She felt more heat coming to her cheeks; she felt her nails digging into her palms as she squeezed them. "I'm on a date with Naruto." Sakura confirmed, barely a whisper. Hinata shrunk further into herself; but she was happy for Naruto.

Sasuke didn't know why he was being so cold towards her. "You two are _made_ for each other." His lips curled with a mean tone. Hinata turned her head and stared at her fiancée. She had never heard Sasuke being so cruel to Sakura before. "Of course, people of your _kind_…" Sasuke continued his jeering, folding his arms across his chest.

"What did you say, teme!" Naruto shouted, glaring at Sasuke with anger Sakura hadn't seen him shown before. "You can be rude and sarcastic and a bastard to me all you want, but don't you dare insult Sakura, who deserves everything except you!"

Sakura was shaking with rage, she had an urge to go up to Sasuke and slap him across the face. But she didn't; it would be rude to Hinata for making a scene. "Come on let's go Naruto…" She said quietly, making a grab for Naruto's arm and dragging him along with her. Hinata felt guilty, and turned to look at Sasuke. He didn't look satisfied at all with all the insults he threw at them.

"Y-You went a bit too far Uchiha-san…" Hinata's voice trailed off, stuttering.

"Don't worry, our kind won't ever get involved with _theirs_." He looked at the Sakura's retreating form with a scowl on his face.

Sakura and Naruto turned a corner, and she abruptly let go of Naruto to hug herself. Naruto looked down, clenched his fist and he grabbed her small shoulders and spun her around to look at him. "Sakura-chan!" he begged

She bit her lip and looked away.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto tried again, this time with a deadly serious look on his face. "After graduation, marry me."

_**To be continued…**_

lxl

**Authoress's Note: **-gets shot again- Yes another cliffie, I'm so evil -.-;; But no worries! The next chapter is going to be…fast I suppose o.o Please review my dears :DDDD Reviews makes me happy XD see you all in chapter 15!

**Co-Authoress's Note: **Mou, just review! XD


	15. Revelation

**Authoress's Note: **:O Thank you so much for reviews! –glomps- I truly love you guys you know that:DDD And sorry for the cliffie last chapter… I'm evil –giggles- :3 I bring you chapter 15! Enjoy 8DD

_Story based onto a manga called 'Mischievous Kiss' by Kaoru Tada. And yes there's a drama based onto the manga called 'It started with a kiss'. _

Co-written with Earthborne

I feel so lazy… Hello Procrastination my old friend…  
Sakura turns on the waterworks again. But she's always been pretty sentimental.

**Chapter fifteen: Revelation**  


lxl

"Haruno-san please read out the answers for page 68." Yamato-sensei tapped his fingers onto the table, and furrowed his eyebrows. When he sensed no response from her, his head shot up from the textbook and stared at Sakura. He had not expected that an excellent student like her would stare out of the window, looking dazed.

Yamamoto cleared his throat loudly. Several students turned their heads to stare at Sakura as well. Sakura continued to daydream, looking kind of lost. "Haruno Sakura-san!" He raised his voice a little higher. Finally the pink-haired girl snapped back to reality, turning her head towards the teacher. "Huh?"

The teacher fumed, clearly angry, he took a deep breath. Ino, who was sitting behind her, kicked her chair.

"What was up with you looking all gloomy and dazed in History??" Tenten demanded when it was finally lunchtime. Ino leaned on the table behind her and crossed her arms over her chest, frowning. Hinata was nowhere in sight. Sakura was kind of glad that she wasn't there to listen. "Um. Nothing." She replied dully, shrugging.

"I have never seen you act like that before. Spill Sakura." Ino said dangerously, tapping her perfectly manicured nails on her arm. Tenten stared knowingly at Sakura. The girl lowered her head, chewing her lower lip.

"…We all know how hard it is for you to accept Sasuke's engagement-" The brunette started, sighing.

"It's not that!" Sakura suddenly interrupted her, raising her head, a muted look of pain in her eyes. She looked down again when she saw her friends' confusion. "N-Naruto asked me to marry him -"

"WHAT??????" Ino screamed, her voice rising five octaves and ten decibels. Outside a car screeched. It sounded like it crashed into a pole. Tenten instantly placed a hand over Ino's mouth, muffling the sonic sound. Their classmates had all dived for cover, thinking it was the End of Days. Sakura on the other hand looked terrified, and had a hand placed over her heart. "I-Ino?" She said breathlessly.

"Sorry." She flashed them a sheepish grin, as if she hadn't just screeched like a fury, and turned back to her best friend. "You can't be serious! YOU CAN'T MARRY HIM!" She demanded, shaking Sakura by the shoulders. Sakura still looked a bit shocked by the noise that Ino can actually produce.

"I told him I'd think about it…" Sakura mumbled when Ino let go of her. Ino and Tenten dropped their jaws and stared at her. "What about Sasuke??" Tenten said triumphantly. "Well… Do you like him?" She asked.

Sakura heaved a sighed and her fingers fisted into fists. "I really do like Naruto but I don't think I've fallen in love with him…" She mumbled, her jaw tight. Ino arched a perfect eyebrow. "Um." She began; glancing sideways to look at Tenten, then turned her head back to Sakura again. "You shouldn't keep Naruto waiting for this long… You know he's been liking you for years." Tenten nodded approvingly.

Sakura flinched slightly, looking angst. "What about… Hinata?" She asked them quietly. Poor girl.

Tenten groaned. "Hopefully, she will get over Naruto." She tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear. "I mean, she's got the gorgeous Sasuke." She tried to joke. But Sakura winced, her lips tightened into a thin line. Ino tried to smile, but couldn't.

Sakura squeezed her eyes shut and hoped it was just a bad dream.

lxl

Sasuke was out with Hinata. Again. Sakura stayed in her room, sobbing to herself. Sasuke acted even colder towards her since she came home from her _date_ with Naruto. The raven gave her the cold shoulder, ignored everything she said and glared when she was just being civilized. The dining table was constantly filled with a nasty, tense silence that Mikoto hated. Everyone ate in silence. Even Itachi's apathy turned colder than the grave. Every date ended with Sasuke home later than Mikoto would have liked. She was not pleased.

Mikoto shot her youngest son a dirty glare as he climbed up the stairs when he arrived home. She tapped her foot impatiently, folding her arms across her chest. "Where have you been?" She demanded; her lips curled with annoyance.

"With Hyuuga-san." He replied in a bored tone. Sakura could hear their talking outside her room; she quietly got up from her bed and opened the door slightly to listen.

"I know that." Mikoto snapped impatiently. "What I'm saying is, why are you arriving home so _late_ every time??" Her tone grew dangerous.

Sakura's heart pace quickened.

"I'm not a kid anymore Mother." Sasuke said curtly, he reached his room and turned his doorknob. "Goodnight." He closed his door behind him, leaving Mikoto standing there, her jaw dropped; she was indeed fuming.

Sakura tried to swallow as she turned back around and leaned against the door, breathing hard. She fought the tears back, blinking them away stupidly. She closed her eyes and her fingers rubbed her temples, trying to calm herself. She felt herself shaking as she put her arms around herself. Sakura knew she was too late to claim Sasuke now. Had they kissed? Had they held hands? She felt waves of sadness hitting her as she thought about those. What were they doing all day? She wondered to herself. For that moment she was almost angry with Hinata stealing her Sasuke.

Then she blinked. She shook her head, embarrassed. _Her_ Sasuke? No, he would never belong to her no matter how much she loved him. She stifled a sob, tears pouring down her cheeks again. She thought maybe giving up Sasuke was the best idea. She sniffed one last time, marched towards her bed and grabbed the photo of Sasuke lying on her bed. She took one long look at the picture before she folded it neatly and dumped it into the bottom of her drawer.

lxl

Ino hated seeing her best friend depressed. It felt weird, not having Sakura laughing and talking. She could only nod or shake her head; thankfully she was still one of the top students in the class, but Ino could tell she wasn't really paying attention to classes at all. Her usual sparkling green eyes were dull, and her warm smile left her face; Sakura seemed to be struggling to breathe half the time.

At break time, Ino went on the rampage to find Sasuke. Even after she raided five classrooms and terrified all the students, her search bore no results. Her eyes narrowed, and she hissed. She turned around and grabbed Tenten's arm, ignoring her protests.

She glanced at Sakura. "We'll be back!" Ino told Sakura. The rosette flapped her arm airily and rested her head onto her arm again.

"What are you doing?" Tenten asked lowly as they turned the corner. Ino released Tenten. She tried to lower her voice as they passed a group of girls, giggling as they walked by. "Trying to find Sasuke." The brunette noticed a tinge of anger in her voice.

"Why are we doing that?" She arched an eyebrow.

"To talk to him of course." The blonde flipped her hair back in an elegant way. Tenten had to walk faster to keep up with Ino's long, furious strides. "Slow down! We don't even know where he is."

"Yes I do!" Ino said hotly, flaring up at once. "I need to talk to him… Or else Sakura's going to get _married_ to Naruto!" Ino didn't hate Naruto, but she knew that their marriage would be one of amiable friendship, and the rosette deserved to at least have _some _romance in her life before she settled down. Tenten felt herself nodding as she caught up to her.

"…What does Sakura _see_ in Sasuke anyway?" Ino rolled her eyes. "I do admit he's gorgeous, smart, sporty and all but he's so _dull_!" She threw her hands in the air like she was making a dramatic speech.

They now crossed the field and turned another corner, entering another building. "Are you sure he's here…?" Tenten mumbled, glancing at the surroundings around her. They seemed to be in the library.

"Um. I don't think he's in the library-"

"AHA!" Ino cried, making her friend jump. "There he is!" She shouted in righteous indignation, making a grab for Tenten's arm again. "Don't make it too obvious!" The weapon-obsessed girl hissed in a low tone into Ino's ear. She nodded at once, pulling a face. Subtleties were not Ino's forte.

They spotted Sasuke standing by the corner of the library; he seemed to be lost in thought. His expression was unreadable.

Ino cleared her throat, making Sasuke glance up from his (unread) book, frowning slightly. His frown deepened as he saw Tenten beside her too.

"I thought you'd dropped out of school." Ino said, folding her arms, she couldn't help but to glare at him. Sasuke's lip curled, snapping his book shut. Ino noticed he was reading some book about advanced Chemistry. She raised her eyebrows.

"Why would I be dropping out of school?" Sasuke snorted, running his fingers over the books at the shelves. Tenten glanced at her blonde friend, seeing impatience flashing across her perfect features.

"Since you're going to marry Hinata…" Tenten answered innocently. The raven-haired teenager stiffened. "But thank god… Sakura seemed to have given up on you. She deserves someone who can actually _appreciate_ her."

Ino stared at Tenten. "_What are you doing_??" She mouthed wordlessly. Tenten smiled at her then turned to Sasuke once again. "…I mean Naruto's a pretty good guy, not bad looking either. I suppose Sakura would be _happy_ with him."

Ino could see that Sasuke was shaking with rage. His hands were balled into fists. She smirked. "Naruto's in a hurry isn't he…?" She smiled wickedly, exchanging knowing looks with Tenten. "He asked her to _marry_ him! Of course… He's not that patient, he's taking Sakura out to dinner tonight and wait for her answer!"

For a moment, Tenten thought Sasuke nearly dropped the heavy book onto the floor. "I always thought Sakura would be the last one to marry!" Ino continued on, a great grin spreading across her face, not noticing that maybe she was going a bit overboard. "But of course… That's to be expected because she loves a frigid cold fish like you Sasuke- " She had turned to him, but realized he wasn't there anymore.

lxl

Sakura knew about Naruto taking her to a fancy restaurant tonight, and she was anxious of course. She bit her lip as she went through her wardrobe to find the right dress to wear. Would she marry Naruto to save her pathetic heart? Her eyes stung; quickly she rubbed her eyes, blinking the tears away. She was sure Hinata's in pain right now, just like her. Sighing, she took out a pale blue dress and eyed it unsurely. Mikoto bought it for her some months ago; it was very pretty indeed. Long and slinky, the straps came behind her neck to form a halter, while her midsection was tied with a large peridot sash. While the dress revealed a rather scandalous amount of back, it was formal without being obnoxious and it wasn't constrictive.

Naruto would definitely ask her about the marriage again tonight. She had not decided yet, she was still uncertain. Deep inside her heart, she hoped that Sasuke would want her back, chasing after her when she stood up there with Naruto at the altar. She blinked, a low, bitter laugh escaped from her mouth, too much Korean dramas and shoujo manga, she chided herself wryly. She realized how foolish the thought was. That was _not_ going to happen… Never, Ever.

She felt like crying again. She heaved a sigh and decided to put the blue dress away and took out her normal everyday looking clothes, placing them onto her bed. Naruto would definitely be wearing something casual, and she didn't want to out dress him. She tugged off her clothes and put the new ones on. The black lace skirt, which Ino had given her with a wink on her sixteenth birthday, felt incredibly weird on her; she glanced down and realized it was way too short. Blushing, she tugged them down slightly and decided to wear stockings underneath. She wore a beautiful sheer black blouse, and wore pearls in her earlobes. She blow-dried her pink hair and wore it hanging down her back like some bubblegum waterfall. She had applied eyeliner and mascara; she knew that even a little make up would set off her emerald eyes dramatically, which was why she almost never wore it.

Sakura glanced at herself in the mirror, she looked quite pretty she noted without tooting her own horn. The skirt was short enough for every man in the restaurant to look at her. She did not care, she wanted Sasuke to know that she was over him; she wanted to go out and have fun with Naruto. Feeling suddenly very rebellious, she hitched the skirt back to the way it was supposed to be, with the hem coming down to just below mid-thigh. Stepping into black-strapped wedge heels she had once bought on the same rebellious impulse, she slipped on silver bangles and gave her mirror a blown kiss. She blushed at her own silliness but was nonetheless empowered by confidence.

She jumped when she heard the door of Sasuke's bedroom opening, she felt her heart thudding against her chest and she felt dizzy. Sakura heard his quiet footsteps dying away as he walked down the stairs. She sighed; of course he wasn't going to see her off, why would she ever think that? She knew she was being pathetic.

Then there was silence. She gasped, realizing she had held her breath. _You must not let him get to you! _She ordered herself fiercely, rubbing her temples. Her breath was uneven. Resolving to stop being so jumpy, she took a deep breath and equipped an expression she liked to think was aloof. She stopped when it cramped her face muscles.

"Crap." She muttered, noticing the clock by her bed. She leaped to her feet, grabbed her bag, checked herself one last time in the mirror and opened the door. She skipped downstairs, trying her best to look cheerful. Everyone in the living room stared at her when she entered. She knew by the stunned looks on their faces meant that she was - well, stunning. Itachi stopped watching TV and checked her out, grinning appreciatively. She tried her best not to look at Sasuke, but she knew he was staring at her like everybody else.

"Well." Sakura's dad broke the silence. "You look- uh very pretty Sakura." There goes the disapproving fatherly tone. Sakura pulled a face. "It's only dinner." She said flippantly, slightly exasperated – she was seventeen already! She refused to look at Sasuke's face. Mikoto looked sad, but she had to admit Sakura looked very beautiful. She glanced at youngest son, she noticed that his hands had gripped the ends of the table tightly and there was tinge of resolute anger in his eyes.

"When will you back?" Mikoto turned away from her son and asked Sakura softly, she was a little satisfied with Sasuke's reaction.

"Um… Not sure, around 11 maybe?" Sakura said in a – dare she say it – coy tone. Sasuke paled. Mikoto thought the table shook. With one last grin and an answering blush to Itachi's whistle and wink, she grabbed her black trench coat from the rack and skipped out, slamming the door behind her.

lxl

The restaurant was _very_ fancy indeed, Sakura admitted as she sat down on the soft chair, admiring the gilded gold chandeliers and sparkling silver and even live classical music from a small band. The waiter smiled down at her, causing her to blush. She was right, different clothes _do_ matter. Naruto, sitting across from her looked absolutely delighted. Sakura offered him a small smile and the boy's face lit up. It was so easy to please him.

She ordered herself a plate of _Ciceri e Tria_ – Italian pasta. It was the first thing on the menu. She closed her eyes, and tried to not _think_ about Sasuke. What is he doing right now? Calling Hinata maybe… or, god forbid, planning the wedding. Was it the next summer? After they graduate? It's not _fair_ she thought miserably, staring at her entrée, spicy pumpkin soup with croutons.

Poor Hinata, she was so in love with Naruto, but she ended up with Sasuke. It was like wishing for the sun and getting a black hole instead. Must be tough having such a strict father; Sakura picked up her spoon and ladled some soup up. After the delicious pasta, she was dismayed to find that she had lost her appetite completely. She was never a big eater – unlike Naruto.

The waiter served the dessert, a rich dark chocolate pudding. She glanced across at Naruto, who was staring at her, and was looking very nervous. "Are you okay?" She asked him, raising an eyebrow. She had never seen him so nervous before…

"Eat up your pudding! It's really nice!" Naruto managed a smile. His hands were gripping and twisting the tablecloth. Sakura nodded slowly. He was _definitely_ acting weird. She ate a few spoonfuls, still thinking about how weird Naruto was acting since he had stopped eating his own pudding (which was almost unheard of) and turned to stare at her. The pudding, she noted, was sinfully delicious, even if she'd lost her appetite.

She frowned as she felt herself digging something hard with her spoon. Metal clinked with metal and something churned her stomach. Sakura lowered her head and stared at the object with her wide emerald eyes. It was a diamond ring. It was beautiful, glittering under the lights above. A thin silver band, with a single diamond in the middle and two peridots beside it, they glinted up at her happily. A gasp escaped from her lips, "N-Naruto… This…" Her voice trailed off. She did not expect this so soon; she hasn't made up her mind yet! Sakura thought it was only dinner tonight. She panicked, looking up at Naruto. She loved the ring, but she wasn't sure that she loved the boy.

Naruto grinned, "You like it?" His voice was boyish and cheerful, unlike Sasuke's low and husky tone. Sakura mentally slapped herself – you've got to stop comparing the two! Inner Sakura scolded her.

"I-I love it." Sakura stuttered, avoiding his eyes. Her heart sank, and she felt like such a horrible villain for breaking the sun's heart.

Naruto's grin widened. "I knew you'd love it…" Then his expression turned serious. He reached over, and closed his calloused, tanned hands over her thin and pale wrist. Sakura managed to squeak like a mouse, flinching. "I still want your answer Sakura-chan. I know it seems kind of soon, but it'll be after graduation." His voice was low, the grip tightened around her wrist. She tried to struggle, looking anywhere but his blue, imploring eyes.

"Will you marry me and be my wife?" Naruto asked for the second time. She hadn't realized he was leaning in. She tried her best not to back away; she wondered why her heart was beating as fast as when Sasuke kissed her, and if she would always compare her kisses with the first claimed by Sasuke.

His face was an inch from hers; he leaned even closer, tilting her head. His eyes were closing slowly. Her mind was spinning; she hadn't made up her mind yet! This was a life-altering decision and she couldn't answer it lightly, nor could she lie to herself about it and doom Naruto and herself to a life of cold beds. She couldn't do this to him!

"No!" Sakura cried, her heart shattering along with his, pushing him away with her hands, and then froze as she saw the hurt expression on Naruto's face. "I-I'm so sorry." She bit her lip, tears leaking out of her eyes, making her vision swim. Her voice wavered and her every word was choked out of her. "I don't think I can marry you Naruto." Her hand muffled her sobs over her mouth; she then dashed out of the restaurant. She didn't want to look at him; she knew his expression would kill her.

Outside, it was raining pretty hard. She was pretty sure her clothes are soaked, but she didn't care. Sakura just realized that those few hours she'd spent with Naruto she had been thinking about Sasuke all along. She felt wretched and guilty for turning down someone with such a good heart and such pure intentions as Naruto. And she was such a coward for running away instead of telling him the truth – that she wasn't good enough for him and if she married him all she would ever think about is Sasuke. Just how horrible was she? Dating one man while thinking about another. She'd just broken one of her oldest and best friend's heart, all for an engaged man who didn't care a whit about her. Sakura wasn't sure if it was the tears or the rain on her face. She just wanted to close her eyes and fall into the blackness.

Maybe she should. Maybe she could go back around and agree to marry Naruto; they could take care of her father's business together and – and she could just remain distant family friends with the Uchihas. She won't be miserable with Naruto, and he does make her laugh… Hinata wouldn't be as lucky, but she had her friends – she'd make it through.

She didn't even know which ways she was going. And endless sea of Technicolor umbrellas and an ocean's worth of rain poured over the city and matched her depressed mood. She was pretty sure she was lost, and she couldn't even bring herself to care. Then someone grabbed her wrist and spun her around. "Leave me alone!" She choked, not even bothering lifting her head. What if it was some stalker? It was weird; she wasn't even panicking.

"Sakura."

That voice… was eerily familiar. She was feeling dizzy again as she looked up and stared into the eyes of Sasuke. _Then_ she started panicking. All the languid despair and self-pity she had been wallowing in disappeared. Her eyes widened and her jaw became slack.

"W-What are you doing here?" She whispered. He ignored her question, and dragged her under his umbrella. Millions of questions rushed into her brain, but she refused to speak.

"I was looking for you."

"M-Me?" She squeaked, sounding so stupid next to him. To her surprise, he didn't let her go. Suddenly she felt safe.

Sasuke ignored that question as well. "So I heard Naruto asked you to marry him."

Sakura's heart skipped a beat. How did he know? She thought. "…So? At least someone is willing to have me." She muttered petulantly, looking away.

"What was your answer?" He asked; his tone was as dull as the sky.

"None of your business!" Sakura flared, "You go and marry Hinata and I'll m-marry Naruto…" She felt so uneasy saying that she was going to marry Naruto. It didn't feel _right_.

"Do you even love him?" Sasuke snorted, they turned the corner and into the main streets. There were swarms of people, all hurrying to their warm homes. It was close to midnight, Sakura was sure, and wondered just how long she'd been wandering. Her hair was plastered to her forehead, and she realised with a heated blush that her sheer blouse was sticking to her skin. She pulled her jacket around her more securely.

His question struck Sakura. She'd never thought about that before. "O-Of course I like him! He's funny, he's cute, he's eager to please and he actually talks beyond monosyllables!" She managed to say. "And he's been liking me for years!"

"So… you ought to like someone that likes you back?" Sasuke's voice and eyes were unreadable.

Sakura has had it with him; she shook his hand off, "What the hell is your _problem_?? It's none of your business who I marry!"

The raven-haired boy grabbed her arm and pulled her closer, glaring at her. "Yes it is. _ I'm_ the person you love, and nobody else!" His voice was uncharacteristically loud.

That hit her like a tornado. She knew he was speaking the truth and that she could never have deluded herself otherwise. "_Fine_!" She screamed, pushing him away from her with all her strength, her eyes were completely blurred by tears as she finally broke down. "Fine! You're right, absolutely right like you always are! I do like you! I wasted years of my life chasing after you and all you had to do was brush me off to marry one of my best friends! But what choice do I have? You're going to marry Hinata and I'll only be a goddamn nuisance to you! I don't have a choice because you'll never love me!" She lost her strength and buried her face in her hands, sobbing out all of her frustration and unrequited love. Gentle, warm hands pulled away her arms, and cupped her face, tilting it up until her liquid viridian eyes rose to meet his onyx ones, his eyes that matched the suddenly clear sky, studded with diamonds. She hiccupped and her breath hitched.

"Sakura. You have no idea…" He breathed, then leaned down a little bit closer and kissed her softly on the lips.

_**To be continued…**_

lxl

**Authoress's Note**: Hehe, sorry another cliffie! BUT DON'T WORRY I'LL BE WRITING CHAPTER 16 :3 Please review! Reviews make us happy XD

**Co-Author's Note: **Sasuke's odd behaviour (the cold shoulder) will be explained soon, don't worry. Let's try and hit the seven hundred mark of reviews shall we? Don't miss the thrilling conclusion! (to this arc at least)


	16. Surprise!

**Author's note:** …Yes. I've been a horrible author. Please forgive me T.T Look on the bright side! I'm updating aren't I? :D I'M SORRY LOVELIES!!! Here's chapter 16. Enjoy.

**Co-author: **Wew. We sure smashed that seven hundred review mark didn't we…? XD

**CO-WRITTEN WITH 'EARTHBORNE' 3**

_Story based onto a manga called 'Itazura na Kiss' by Kaoru Tada. And yes there's a drama based onto the manga called 'It started with a kiss'._

**Chapter sixteen: Surprise!**

--------------lxl--------------

His lips were pressed firm against hers, and he tasted, oddly, like fresh tomatoes. Sakura blinked, and could not make out what had just happened. Maybe she was just imagining things because _the_ Uchiha Sasuke had just kissed her. Her head was spinning, unable to think or move, except dimly, she realized that this kiss wasn't as romantic as it could be, because her eyes were wide open and staring. Sasuke finally pulled away, gazing down at her with mixed emotions. "Sakura…" He began, his fingers brushing against her tear-streaked face, gently tracing the curve of her heart-shaped face. His face seemed to soften slightly and he pulled her into an embrace, a welcoming warmth in the icy rain. "Don't… don't ever like anybody else. I…" his voice was muffled, trailing off into her hair.

_Wow. Did he just…? Wow. He's… _embarrassed.

"S-S-Sasuke-kun?" Sakura managed to squeeze out a stammer. Wait, she sounded like Hinata just then! His grip tightened around her small shoulders, bringing her closer to him, and he buried his face into the crook of her neck. Sakura didn't know if she was still conscious or if she was just simply dreaming, because this all seemed too much. She had just received two confessions within an hour, one who had all the heart in the world and the other who so far hadn't _shown_ a heart. She felt bewildered, lost, and worst of all, she felt guilty for enjoying this so much, when she had just broken Naruto's heart. But she couldn't pull away, not when she'd been yearning for this for so long. Without any hesitation, Sakura let her tears fall, and clutched his t-shirt, sinking herself into his embrace. She wished she could stay like this forever, warm and content.

"The second time…" She murmured blissfully, almost unconsciously, still in the daze of disbelieving what was happening, to _her_ of all people.

Sasuke stirred, blinking. "What?"

"The second time you kissed me!" The rosette haired girl in his arms exclaimed, a small smile tugging at her lips. With a smirk, the one she dearly loved, he pulled her into his arms once again, "Third actually." He whispered, and his voice was – dare she think it – playful. Sakura's eyes widened. "_What??_"

"Stop counting woman." Sasuke suddenly scowled (_yep, he's embarrassed_), and made a pull at her hand, dragging her towards the intersection before she could protest. "Come on, let's go home."

--------------lxl--------------

Mikoto sniffed and stared down at the cold cup of tea that she held in her hands as Papa Haruno spoke about moving out of the house. "…I see…" Fugaku said, nodding slowly. "We'll miss you a lot!" Mikoto cried out, startling both her husband and her friend. "Especially Sakura! I mean _Sasuke_ would miss her _a lot_." Both men noticed the hint of hope in her voice and sighed. The self-proclaimed matchmaker didn't seem to be giving up anytime soon. "…Sakura is like a daughter to me, and I hate to let both of you go…" The raven haired woman's voice trailed off, sniffling a little and biting her lower lip slightly. Her husband placed his large hands over her small ones and squeezed in comfort.

Papa Haruno smiled sadly. "I just think it's best for us to move out… I mean Sasuke is getting married and all… You know how my daughter is, she-"

_BANG!_

The door slamming noise alerted all three of them, causing them to jump. "They're back?" Mikoto questioned, standing up in eagerness. Her dark eyes widened as she saw her youngest son dragging the hopeless Sakura towards them, both drenched in rain.

"Oh good lord!" Sasuke's mother shrieked at the sight. "You're both soaking wet! Fugaku, go get some towels!" Sasuke ignored his shrilly mother, and walked towards Papa Haruno, pulling Sakura along. "Sir." Ignoring his mother, he addressed him politely, though his eyes were burning something fierce that couldn't be denied. His hand slipped from Sakura's, instead coming around her waist to draw her closer.

Papa Haruno, looking quite alarmed, stared at him. "Y-Yes, Sasuke?" The boy looked like a drowned rat, but none of this seemed to affect how intimidating he was.

"Would you please do me the honor of giving your daughter's hand in marriage to me?" Sasuke asked calmly, his voice and tone warm in its sincerity. Sakura blinked. _Huh? What?!_ It took everyone else five seconds to fully process that thought.

"_**What**_?!" Papa Haruno yelled, who was floored, along with everybody else in the room.

"_What?!?!?!" _Screeched Sakura. Oh god, was she dreaming again? Uchiha Sasuke asking for _her_ hand? Was she on crack? Sakura reached up and pinched her rosy cheeks, hard. _Ow_. Nope. She's awake. Awake, and apparently _wanted_ and _engaged _to Uchiha-freakin'-Sasuke. She felt like fainting.

"_OH MY GODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!" _Screamed Mikoto, who did in fact faint, swaying on the spot before swooning into her husband's arms.

"Do you guys mind keeping the volume down?" Itachi drawled, walking into the living room, freezing when he saw everyone's expressions. "What the hell is going on here?" He folded his arms and leaned against the wall, watching everyone with slightly bemused amusement.

"S-Sasuke-kun??" Sakura squeaked, her head spinning like she was doing cart-wheels again. Papa Haruno opened his mouth and was about to say something but was interrupted by Sasuke.

"I realised my feelings today, and I would like to spend my days with her. I _want_ to spend my days with her." Sasuke said, and Sakura felt her beloved Sasuke squeezing her shoulder slightly. She looked up, and him too, gazed down at her, a small rare smile appeared on his perfect features.

Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. She was going to cry. Her love of six years wanted to marry her! Her heart was all aflutter… She stifled a small sob, biting her lip as she tried to hold her whimpers back. She wasn't going to cry and ruin the mood!

Mikoto made a dramatic jump, and rushed to her son, grabbed him by the shoulders and shook frantically. "ARE YOU SERIOUS ABOUT THIS?" She bellowed into his face, happy tears streaming down her cheeks.

Sasuke winced at such power and pulled away from his insane mother. "Yes mother, I am serious. Stop shaking me please!" Fugaku stared at his wife's crazy behavior. Maybe Sasuke's apparent change of heart caused his wife to snap.

"OH!" Mikoto clapped her hands together happily, pulling out a camera, "I _need_ to video tape this! Itachi come here, and teach your happy mother how! I can show this happy, happy, _happy_ and _glorious _moment to my _grandchildren_!" She emphasized on the word 'grandchildren', glancing hopefully over at Sasuke and Sakura's direction with glittering eyes. Not to her surprise, Sakura blushed into the shade of Sasuke's favorite tomatoes. Sasuke's eye twitched in annoyance as his own fair shade of embarrassment dusted his cheeks.

"Oh my! I'll be an uncle!" Itachi exclaimed sarcastically, and with an obscene amount of mirth, smirking in his brother's direction. Sakura was sure that she heard the words 'damn idiot' and 'like hell I'd let you near my children' muttered under Sasuke's breath.

"W-Well…" Papa Haruno began, and everyone turned towards him. "You do know my girl is very clumsy…"

"Yes."

"She can't cook a decent meal…"

"Yes."

"She's got a horrible temper…"

"HEY!" Sakura protested angrily in the background. To talk about her like she wasn't even there! Sasuke smirked. "Yes. I'm familiar with it."

"But she's got a kind heart and warm personality that everyone loves…" Papa Haruno sniffed. He always knew that one day he'd have to give his beloved daughter away, but no amount of mental preparation could steel him against this touching moment. He was shocked to find himself shedding a tear.

Sasuke's expression softened. "Yes."

"Dad…" Sakura looked like she was about to burst into tears too.

"She loves you and… if you're serious about this, and if you can make her happy. I guess I can give you my blessings." Papa Haruno smiled tearfully.

"Thank you… Father."

With the last reply. Sakura fainted. She could distantly hear everyone shouting her name as she fell into the darkness.

--------------lxl--------------

"Nnnn…" Sakura groaned, her eyelids fluttered open and glanced at her surroundings. What the? This isn't her room! Was she kidnapped?? So after all it _was_ a dream… She quickly sat up and could feel her head throbbing. "Ow…" She complained, massaging her temples.

"Sakura."

She jumped at the familiar voice, and turned her head around. "S-S-Sasuke-kun!" She yelped, and saw his god-like face looking at her by the bed. Before she could speak again, "are you feeling better?" He asked; his arm brushed past hers slightly. Was that concern in his voice? Sakura blushed crimson at the contact, _stop feeling embarrassed!_ She commanded herself; _we are going to get married for God's sake! I think…_

"Y-Yeah I'm fine." Sakura stammered, trying to avoid his gaze. Sasuke smirked, and squeezed her arm to get her attention. She squeaked at the sensation. "What, are you feeling _embarrassed_?" His face leaned in, an inch from hers. She gulped, feeling her cheeks warm up again. "Y-You didn't have to say it to _everyone_… coulda asked me first…" She mumbled, fiddling with her pink strands. Even though she couldn't see his face, but she could feel him smirk and pull away. "Was there any doubt to your answer?" He asked logically. She muttered under her breath, but he was pretty dead on. Her emerald eyes darted towards him anxiously. "Sasuke-kun…"

"Hn?"

"Did you… well…" Sakura fidgeted, and then she took a deep breath. "Did you mean what you said earlier?"

"…Well I said a lot of things Sakura." She swears he's toying with her, but felt her heart skip a beat, and then beat faster as if to make up for it when he spoke her name again… spoke her name as her _fiancé…_

"You know what I'm talking about!" The pink haired female huffed. "Y-You know… the marriage thing…" Her voice trailed off, losing all her confidence again. After all, she didn't have much to begin with when it came to Uchiha Sasuke. Who was she kidding? The Great Mighty Super Hot Sasuke marrying a girl with unusual bright hair and a large forehead? She sighed.

"Sakura…" He murmured, did she really not understand how he feels about her, after all he's done? Itachi has a lifetime's worth of blackmail on him now. And she's still hopeless. "I meant it. Every single word."

"But you never told me you _liked_ me! That's why I doubt things!" Sakura pouted, crossing her arms over her chest, refusing to acknowledge the slight whine to her voice. She felt almost ashamed that she was being a bit petty after he'd proven beyond second-guessing his intentions and she was looking a gift horse in the mouth, but she couldn't help but feel the seeds of doubt gnawing into her. Besides, she flared up a moment later; she had every right to be indignant.

"Sakura-"

"If we are ever going to get married… you should at least tell me how you feel about me!"

"I…love you."

Sakura squealed with delight, clapping her hands together, her bright eyes sparkled with happiness, as if she never had a dark thought of doubt in her mind at all. "Oh I love you too- oomph!" Before she could fangirl – that is, speak more, Sasuke tilted her head and claimed her lips once again. Her eyes, this time, slid shut automatically, and all she could focus on was the feeling of Sasuke's lips on hers, soft and unassuming. Sakura felt like she was in heaven, and he still tasted like tomatoes. His hands slid up her arms, gently stroking the back of her neck. She melted into his touch, and she clung to his shoulders as she tried not to collapse.

"Well... I don't want to be an uncle yet! No hanky-panky!" Itachi swung open the door and threw his hands in the air. Sakura gasped and Sasuke pulled himself away from her with flushing cheeks.

"Oh don't mind me at all! Keep making out!" Itachi drawled. Oh how he loved to tease his little brother.

"What are you doing here?" The younger Uchiha seethed, glaring daggers at his idiotic brother. "Get out of my room!" With that, he tried to slam the door into Itachi's face, but the door bounced off the lock and left a tiny gap. Itachi smirked, patting himself on the back for a job well done before turning around and seeing his parents hiding behind him. "Uh. What exactly are you two doing?"

"Well I'm not really doing anything it's your mother-" Fugaku began plaintively but saw his wife's glare. "Shh! He'll hear us!" Mikoto grabbed Itachi's arm and pulled him down with them. She crawled, military style on her stomach to the tiny gap in the door, pushing the lens in for maximum coverage. Her tongue was sticking out slightly from the effort.

"Mikoto!" Fugaku said helplessly, "stop taping them! Sasuke will get pissed at us if he finds out!"

"Oh Sasu-baby won't mind. One day he'll want to see this touching moment between him and his wife to be!" Mikoto squealed to herself again, gladly lost in her own delusions.

Itachi and his father looked at each other before they wisely chose to tiptoe away, leaving a flustered and defensive Mikoto to explain herself to her irate 'Sasu-baby'.

_**To be continued…**_

--------------lxl--------------

**Author's note:** Well… how was it? Please tell me what you think!! Don't worry, I won't take that long to update chapter 17 again… Once again, I'm sorry for the very very late update! D:

Review and make us happy please!~

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

**Co-author:** ^what she said!


End file.
